The Desert in Outrageous Bloom

I have been working so hard in the studio that I think I have finally hit a creative wall. I think I actually have to take a day off! (whoa.) I know, but there's nothing else that can be done. I tried to paint a cottontail rabbit today - nothing new, nothing I haven't tackled before - and I just couldn't make it work. There was frustration. There was a throwing of a brush. There were breaths drawn to calm down. More working...getting more awful by the brushstroke. I finally had to WALK AWAY. Sit down in a different room. Gather myself. And then, I went back and wiped the whole painting off. (oh yes I did!)

So I have decided to write you here, my dear blogger friends. Hi. I promised to share with you some photos of the Joshua Trees in bloom. I am going to do that, and I am also going to share some photos of the Mojave Yucca blooms. We've got one in front of our house that is exploding with flowers. Astonishing flowers. Here are the Joshua Tree blooms (and one bud):

Here are the Astonishing Mojave Yucca Blooms:

Taken in the last light of the day - so delicate

Don't you LOVE them?

Send me your encouraging words, as you have done before. Please. Since delivery for my April show is less than two weeks away. And I need to have at least two more (preferably three!) paintings. (And this is oil paint we're talking about here.)

The Flower Report

Forgive me for being so quiet on the blog this past week.  I had a small flurry of unexpected, out-of-town guests last week.  I also suffered from a strange lethargy over the weekend.  Spring Fever?  It's hard to say.  At least I am back now.  Back to my more usual self.

Pono and I went for a magical walk/run this morning in the wonderland of the desert in spring.  Butter yellow desert dandelions and white, round pincushions carpeted the desert floor.  Mixed into this bounty were desert delphinium, mohave asters, poppies, and a few orange mallow blossoms.  It was hard to run much, because I had to keep stopping to look and look.  Fabulous.  I did take photos, but I only had my little tiny point-and-shoot.  Those photos just weren't doing it justice.  I promise to go back with the BIG camera, and try to get a more accurate picture of the dazzling array of flora, so that I can share it with you.

Until then, I will share with you the flowers I have photographed. 

A close up of the Mohave Yucca.  This one almost makes my stomach hurt, it is so beautiful.

Morman Tea.  It is also known as "Whorehouse Tea", "Cowboy Tea", and "Canyon Tea."  I highly recommend you click on this link, to read a short and fascinating article about it. 

The blossoms of the Joshua Tree in the backyard have given way to these green seed pods. 

 

I am teaching a small drawing class, once every two weeks.  Today was our second class.  I am excited about what my students are doing.  I have only taught one drawing workshop previously, and I find that I enjoy it more than I had expected to.  (I was nervous!)  It is important to step outside of one's comfort zone, every now and then. 

I have more paintings drying, and I will attempt to get some photos.  I just need for the wind to stop blowing, just for a few hours.  Please, wind, will you just stop for more than two days in a row?  Please?

I will try to catch up on my blog reading this week too, fellow bloggers!  I hope you haven't felt neglected.  I miss you, when I don't read about you.  Thank you, everyone, for reading my blog.  You know I couldn't keep writing, were it not for you, reading!!!  I appreciate you!

Two photos and a painting

These two photos were taken at sunset of the Joshua Tree in our backyard.  I like to go out and visit the blossoms every day.  I love them.

This is a recent oil painting of a small Joshua Tree near Darwin, CA.  It was short, but felt mighty, overlooking the valley below.  I sometimes feel like this little tree, so I suppose in a way this was a self portrait.  Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches.

I am pleased to announce that I have a number of my monotypes hanging at the 29 Palms Inn.  They are on one wall, with photographs by Bruce Miller hanging on the other.  The show will be up until May 1st.  I also have a Joshua Tree painting at the High Desert Nature Museum in Yucca Valley as part of the Climate Change show.

Happy Valentines Day

My dear readers, I hope you know I love you!  Thanks for reading my blog.

Here is the most recent oil painting.  This is oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches.  A portrait of one of the Joshua Trees near Cactus Flats.  

More soon!

Cold and Windy

Another cold and windy day - we even got more rain last night.  Strange desert weather.  The lizard in me is ready for hot summer sunshine and 100 degrees, but it looks like I will have to wait a while for anything like that.  For now, I continue drinking hot tea and wearing knee high wool socks.

Yesterday was spent organizing the studio a little bit.  It needs more organizing than I gave it, but I am the first to admit that cleaning, organizing and throwing things away is not one of my strong points.  I am improving, but with tiny, baby steps.  I find that I go in to begin sorting and while I am sorting, I discover something I wanted to paint or finish painting, and of course that is more fun that sorting, so I do that!  So this was what distracted me yesterday:

  This is a little 8 x 10 inch pastel of a clump of Joshua Trees.

It is supposed to be sunset, but now that I see it as a photo, I realize I need to tweak the values a bit more.  It looks better in person.

We found out Monday that my husband, who is a pilot for UPS, will be getting furloughed in May.  We have known that this was a serious possibility for some time, so it wasn't a total surprise.  We have been saving money and stockpiling necessities.  However, this may mean that I go look for a job somewhere, and put the art on a back burner.  I am grateful that he and I are both really good with money, and that we have been able to prepare.  I know that others have not had that opportunity, and my heart goes out to them.  

Thunder is booming outside, and I am gearing up for another day in the studio.  No organizing today.  

Happy Wednesday, all you lovely blog readers! 

Two portraits

I have two new paintings to share with you today.  Both seem like portraits to me.  One is the portrait of a person, and one is a portrait of a Joshua Tree in bloom.  As you already know from my earlier post, I do think of the Joshua Tree as being figurative.

Here is the second finished painting of the Joshua Tree in bloom.  You can see that having an under painting really made a difference in the overall quality and liveliness of color.  This painting is oil on canvas, measuring 20 x 16 inches.   What really interested me in this painting was that clear blue spring sky. 

We received more rain over the weekend, and little bits of green are beginning to pop up all over the place.  There is quite a lot of mud, which Pono is irresistibly drawn to.  I suppose if I were a dog, I would want to walk through soft, squishy mud, too.  If I were a dog, I wouldn't have to mop the floor, after the adventure in mud.  The drawback I can see to being a dog is having to eat kibble every day.  So, I guess I will stay human. 

I also completed a portrait of my friend Shant last week. This painting was started with a four hour painting session at Shant's house.  I took photographs the day I started the painting, and used four of the photographs as reference to help me finish the painting once I got home.  Since it was a live sitting, I wanted to try to preserve the feeling of that.  It seems as though there is an unspoken communication between sitter and artist during a live session.  That is something that is lost when I only have a photograph to paint from.  I found it interesting that when I got home and printed out the photos I had taken, each photo was different.  Subtle shifts in the position of his body, along with variations of his expression were evident in the photographs.  The vitality of a live session is what I find compelling when painting a portrait.  The impossibility of both artist and sitter to hold completely still somehow becomes the thing that I want to capture, since it seems to be the part that is most elusive.  A likeness is important to me, but there is more there that I want to try to capture.  I am looking for the essence of who that person is.

I know it is probably surprising to some of you that an artist who is so infatuated with abstraction also enjoys painting more realistic and clearly representational art.  They may seem like two completely different things.  And yet, for me, I cannot seems to have one without the other.  When I am not drawing from life, my abstract work suffers, and vice versa.  The freedom of abstraction also helps me when I work realistically.  I will write more on this later.  Happy Monday, my dear blog readers!