New Painting: Thaw

 Thaw

A new painting about opening up to change, to opportunity, and glorious new beginnings.

I'd say that's pretty spot on for our life right now....what is keeping us going is holding on to our vision of the life that we will build in Charleston and all of the new beginnings that this adventure holds.

Today the packers will come to pack everything that we have not packed already, and then they come tomorrow to move everything out. We are living out of suitcases, and then yesterday someone stole Frank phone and wallet out of his studio, which is going to make these last two days so much more complicated as now he'll be running around replacing and canceling everything that was in there!

Feels like we are being cracked open to the core of who we are in these last few days, but the biggest thing that I have been feeling is the love for all of my dear friends here. That is the biggest thing,
Love.

Mantra

Another new painting...

 Mantra

So fun to make mandalas when I really should be packing....6 days to go, aaaahhh!

Universe

Universe

"Everything that exists, has existed and will exist. The totality of everything that exists."

For the past two weeks, leading up to our big party, I have been finishing up a new group of 5 paintings. It felt so good to be in the studio doing focused work while everything else surrounding our move feels like it is swirling around me, I just closed the door to my studio and started painting! I'm really excited to share this new work with you, and I'll be adding prints to my shop over the next few days.

My favorite part about this new painting is the tiny moment of this little golden star,

Lightness

Lightness

I've been working with an interior designer lately, she found me after feeling a real response to my work after seeing it featured on the cover of our church's Advent season bulletin back in the winter. Its interesting the way connections are made. She has started directing clients to my website, where they look for pieces that will go with their decor that the designer is working on. Recently, one of her clients purchased this painting, Lightness. Its a large piece that I did a few years ago, actually right before I became pregnant for the first time.

I was feeling light and joyful, but also hesitant and a little afraid of what the journey towards parenthood would hold.

As I am in another place of uncertainty, with our move looming, right now I see lots of things that I still relate to in this piece.

Overall there is a positive, buoyant energy that really speaks to me!

This one is new to my shop, I've just made prints available right here.

Additionally, with our big show around the corner, only one week away, I have been having lots of inquiries from people wanting to buy my originals. I have just updated my website, and in the painting gallery section there you will find all of my pieces that are available. If you are interested in a particular piece please let me know as soon as possible, so that I can set it aside for you before our big show. I sell originals by request as a custom listing in my Etsy shop.

xo

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

I just finished this new painting, I'm getting a lot of new work finished up for our show on May 7th. If you are in NYC we'd love for you to come, here is all of the info...

Courage

Courage

Do not go where the path my lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prints of this just finished painting are available in my shop here.

May you all walk forward in Courage and Faith!

xo

Painting of the week: Unfurling

Unfurling

Even though we had what I hope is our last snow of the season today I can feel it, spring fever is setting into my soul. Getting my hands into the dirt to plant last weekend awakened my hibernating spring self, now I'm wanting to wake up to sunshine and sandals each day!
All of that for now is being channeled into the studio where it manifested in this new painting about waking up, taking a deep stretch, and unfurling into all of the potential with in.


As we have been unfurling into our new selves, the ones who are moving from Brooklyn in less than 2 months, I've felt myself needing more times in which I can be deeply pensive. Also, there is a heaviness that I know many of us have been feeling for Japan recently. I have been isolating myself from much of the news coverage, but I have seen enough to haunt me. Following the tsunami just after Christmas in 2006, I remember feeling similarly helpless and deeply saddened, imagining my own children being torn away from me in a wave of water as I had heard interviews with parents who had lived that nightmare. The horror that people in Japan are living right now is too much to bear.
Besides donating to the Red Cross I also came across this site, The 1000 birds Project, which was just begun by a Japanese artist and blogger living in England. She is making 1000 ceramic (and cute!) birds that she will sell online, donating all proceeds to the relief effort in Japan. I'm looking forward to getting a few when her online shop is set up, which should be any day now.

Angel

Angel

I just finished this new painting, Angel. Each time I complete a painting I feel like I've had a love affair with it through the work, I stare at it and remember the application of each layer, each mark, the planning of each drip. I find every excuse to step into the studio for one more quick glance, or a long gaze. I am particularly happy with how the washes in the environment of this piece turned out. I wanted it to feel very light and airy yet to have a palpable weight to the space and I feel like I got there with it in all of the layers. I am especially happy with the black washes on the big butterfly/moth, they turned out exactly as I envisioned them in my mind's eye.

This week Frank and I have been working hard on space clearing in our big studio space. We have been doing the difficult work of sorting through years of our paintings and drawings, while deciding what we need to hold onto, and move with us, and what it is time to let go of. We are enjoying the lightness that comes with making space, while there is still much work to be done! I'll post some pictures of our big clear out soon.

I've also been missing my "Painting of the Week" postings, so I've decided to bring those back, this is the first one.

Cheers!

Time and Distance

I've been working on a couple of new paintings with this idea in my mind of Time and Distance, the idea started when my brother left after our Thanksgiving visit, to return to his home across the sea in England. I was thinking about how undimmed our childhoods are to us when we are together, how time does not matter for us as we always pick up at the same spot with each other. I have other friends like that as well, and I'm sure you do to. Those are the special people, what ever you call them.....a soul sister, a true companion, a dear friend, a soul's mate (and not just the romantic kind)....these relationships are some how outside of time and place, they can be across great distances and still remain strong. These thoughts were swimming in my head as I made these,

Day and Night

Time and Distance

OK, I know that this is silly but, I guess that as I was seeing them with different eyes, I did not realize that they are so appropriate for Valentines Day (read: big hearts) until just last week! So, I figured it was a good time to add them to my shop, you can check them out here and here.

Through the Darkness

::Winter's breath blows cold and swift,
while we sit together,
waiting patiently for the sun's return,
the earth's rebirth,
through the darkness::

I'm sneaking up on the 200th sale in my shop, only two sales to go, I'll send a special surprise "something" to the person who is the 200th sale!

I've just added this wintry painting, Through the Darkness, to my shop for the first time, right here. Sending you wishes for a warm wonderful weekend!

xo

Marrakesh

Marrakesh

Sometimes when I am working on a large group of new paintings I have a couple in progress that are pure fun, that I jump in and out of when I need a light hearted romp to play with color. Marrakesh is such a painting, built on daydreams and fancy. I've been loving this blog about life in Marrakesh for a while, and some day dream of going there. I'm picturing sitting by a lotus pond on a blindingly sunny brilliant day,

You step inside to the cool of the shaded courtyard,

Where the soft sound of the trickling fountain refreshes you, but there are surprises waiting for you through the courtyard door, beckoning you out again,

Out onto the winding, dusty streets, with crumbling walls and inspiration in every direction.

Out into the dark bazaar, where light sneaks through the slatted ceiling and exotic wares of every kind catch your eye.

OK, OK, enough day dreaming*. I'm snapping out of it and heading back to the studio. Sending you lovely weekend wishes. Prints of Marrakesh are now available here.

One last note...I had a nice surprise this morning, my new painting Cinder and Smoke, along with another of my paintings called Essence, were featured on the front page of Lovely Clusters in this beautiful spread...

*I took all of the "Morocco" photos at Epcot in their version of Marrakesh, a pretty cool place to wander around and daydream.

Cinder and Smoke

Cinder and Smoke

In the midst of my flurry of studio activity here I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel as I am putting the finishing touches on multiple paintings this week. I am so excited to share them with you over the next few days. The first one, Cinder and Smoke is so close to my heart right now, I'm completely enamored with it especially with those turquoise horses!

As I was working on it I was thinking about things that drift away from us as we grow and mature, as we let go of things (parts of us even) that we no longer need, to make room for what is coming into our lives. Moving ever forward.

I went to see the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" this past August, since I loved the book I was so excited to see the movie, but honestly as often happens to me when I see the movie version of a book that I love, the movie felt a bit one dimensional and left me a little cold. The most exciting part of going to see the movie came during the previews, as I was watching the preview for a movie called "Secretariat", the female character was asked, "Why are you doing all of this?" and she replied, "It is about life being ahead of you, and running at it!". Something about that line gave me chills and has stayed playing over and over in my mind.

So this piece has that idea in it too, it is about life being ahead of you, and running galloping full speed to embrace it.

Prints of Cinder and Smoke are now available in my shop.

New Light

New Light, acrylic and mixed media on canvas

I've been busy working on a whole bunch of new originals in the studio. I just finished this one and have added her to my shop, here. 

The glow of early autumn and the delicate nuances of new light were the inspiration for this whimsical mixed media painting. 

The gentle deer bends to nibble on a blade of grass, an unguarded moment, the soft beating of butterfly wings rustle the air.

I have been really enjoying drawing with ink on a few of the paintings in progress and I fell in love with this little doe. The painting just felt like it needed the simplicity of the relationship between the butterflies and the deer, when I work on a painting this simple I feel an internal quiet as well. My soul calms, my spirit rests....and that enters into the painting.
Whisper, or you might startle her.

Sending you calm. Sending you rest.

[Painting of the Week] Cascade

Cascade, mixed media on canvas

This piece is about how I feel when I'm full to brimming with emotion, with energy, with ideas...all buzzing around in my heart and in my head creating an overflow,

a Cascade.
We have spent the past week exploring beautiful Cornwall, the south west peninsula of England, where we stayed in a cottage on a farm. It has been breath-taking and overwhelming for the senses, just fantastic.
I can't wait to share photos of all that beauty here. I think I'll have a moment to sit in quiet tonight at my brother's house and process it all. 
More England... coming soon.

[Painting of the Week] Inflorescence

Inflorescence, 4 by 5 feet, oil and mixed media on canvas

Here is another of my all time favorite pieces, this is one of my larger works that I made in a series all of this same size, about 10 years ago...time flies!

I wanted to share this painting with you during our time in England, while we are visiting gardens and manor homes, as there is a lush overgrown garden feeling to this one, and the black stenciled vine reminds me of the wrought iron fences and gates that I have seen so often here. I wanted this painting to feel like something broken down, old and faded but still quite beautiful. 

Right at the center of the piece there is a swarm of dragonflies making their way through the flowers, I imagine them darting to and fro.

Before we moved into our house in Brooklyn with a backyard, after years of apartment living, I often felt that I directed my yearning to garden into my paintings, which this one really bears evidence of. The huge garden in my mind, wild and free!

*My work was just featured in this gorgeous Etsy treasury, each piece is very feminine with a slightly moody, nostalgic edge.

[Painting of the Week] Nest

Nest, Acrylic on canvas, 4 x 3 feet

[Painting of the Week] Taking Flight

[Painting of the Week] Waking

Waking

Waking as if from a dream, through winter and into spring.
This painting is about the waking up of the senses, the body and the mind during springtime. It is about the way that even the buds on the plants almost seem to laugh at that time of year!  Everything is so new, so fresh.
At about this time in summer I often tend to have amnesia about how much I longed for the warmth during wintertime, and I get annoyed with summer for getting me all hot and bothered. This painting reminds be to enjoy each moment for the beauty that it holds.
Prints of this painting are now available here.

Happy Monday, and happy August (how is it August??)!

[Painting of the Week] Dawn

Dawn

Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon.

Here is another of my favorites from the past few years, and one that is very close to my heart. I made this painting when I was newly pregnant for the first time, 7 years ago this month. I was so full of hope, excitement and joy, but also hesitant, fearful and really struggling with embracing the unknown.

I still see all of that in this piece.

Sending you rich blessings for this Monday!

[Painting of the Week] Harmony of the Microcosm

Harmony of the Microcosm

Today my Painting of the Week is one from a whole series of Lotus paintings that I did a few years ago. I had such fun painting the floating Lotus form here that repeats throughout the series. It seems almost to move as it becomes a character within the environment of the piece. As I painted this one I was thinking about small parts within a whole, a microcosm, and how everything in our world is interrelated from the smallest particle. Each small part is important to the whole and relates with its own symmetry and beauty. I had so much fun painting these Lotuses, each petal blending into the next, becoming a whole within the energy of the mark. You'll see more from my Lotus series in the coming weeks.
Prints are here.

Happy Monday!