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Graton Gallery

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GRRRRRRRR!

I am so angry with myself right now!  I left of of my most favorite fishy paintings outside in the rain last night and now it is all bubbly and washed out:(

I totally spaced out on this treasure being left in the back corner of the yard where I do my sanding.  The only reason it was there in the fist place was that it was damaged in a doomed loaning of my paintings to someone who I didn’t know well enough to trust with my painted babies.  Grrr!  It is the mistake that keeps on giving!!  Biggest bummer is that this painting was airbrushed, and to get that same color + the always clogging airbrush to work properly is a giant headache.   Not to mention that the original surface was more porous than the repaired area, so the same color paint looks different on it.  Okay, venting done….now to hone my artifact repairing skills and try my best to air brush and matte medium this once glistening thing back to some measure of perfection.  Wish me patience and luck!

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Okay…its later, and I fixed her the best I can.  She is now picture worthy once again!

“Looking West”

I am super excited about my new series of bird paintings that have the common theme of beach side lazing, gazing and just hanging around!  I have been using my beloved hard molding paste by Golden, and making the initial quick sketch into the paste before it dries.  It is a rare occasion that the first sketch is a keeper, but if it isn’t I use my over-sized palette knife to smooth out the surface and try again, and again, and again…and sometimes again and again before the molding paste dries.  I like to carve or draw into the layer of paste with the end of a paintbrush or a pencil, and the end result is a loose feeling painting with a thick textural surface, delicious!  It really is so much fun I have gone through a $80 gallon of the pasted in the last 2 months…..now wanting more.  So, I am stocked with canvasses and armed with a lovely new medium to satisfy the senses… what more can a girl ask for, um, besides more paste:)

P.S.  I know photos never quite do my work justice, but hopefully you can get the feel of the texture of the surface in this afternoons’ sunlight!

Spring inspiration-

Okay, so I have been a lot neglectful of my blog as of late…feeling kinda down with my broken foot healing so slowly and tapped out by how much harder life’s daily tasks are with a dragging limb.  But, good news, I am back to feeling like I can do it all again.  I had lovely spring break (2 weeks off!), that included a restful day trip to a spa:).  I think I have done that about 3 times in my life, and this was the first time since I had my 3 girls!!  I am thinking about making it a habit, now that I know about the locals fare at the Fairmont in Sonoma!!  For just $25 you can utilize their stocked facility, including a eucalyptus steam room, dry sauna and multiple hot tubs, not to mention the plushy robes, unlimited supply of fresh towels and refreshing apricot body scrub. Stop daydreaming girl- back to the art!

With my newly acquired modern 10×12 studio in the back yard I have been dragging out all the toxic lovelies that I had stashed away for my childbearing years and have begun to work in oil and varnish again!!  How I love the feel of oil on the canvass, the movement and viscosity of oil is un-parallel, unfortunately, so is the cleanup.  I am a bit torn actually, whether to invest in such a dirty pleasure.  I am sure many artists feel conflicted on this issue.  Healthy environment and person vs. love of oil paint.  I leave you with a picture from my new bird series “Looking West” that I am adoring right exactly now!!

Mombo’s!!

So, even though I have sworn off showing in food places…I took the opportunity to show my paintings at Mombo’s pizza joint, right up the street from my house.  I followed a show by artist Chris Hataway, who does giclee on canvass and prints mostly.  I kept the thought proving art coming, after Mr. Hataway’s show, and hung my bird series in their first ever solo show!!!  I have 7 gorgeous framed prints and 4 large originals paintings on canvass. Featuring my brand spanking new oil paintings with the theme “Looking West”.  These beach side birds you don’t want to miss!! Come by and check it out …and grab a slice!

Handcar Regatta!!

The Handcar Regatta street faire is coming up and I am hustling to get my prints made.  This event is FREE and FUN!! Come have a look at the craft vendors and you’ll find me selling my prints, paintings and sculptures.  

I have been creating lots of new bird paintings, and that is all well and good, but in order to offer them as prints, I need to get them photographed by a professional.  In comes the power of trade and good friends! I am fronting the cash money to make really nice prints via the “Giclee” print process, which touts more true color, longevity and an overall more valuable art piece.  Unfortunately the “Giclee” process is about 3x the cost of a regular print, but I really want my prints to look gorgeous and hold their own on paper.

Come have a look, and dress the part!

Gettin’ out there

So, I have 40 new paintings and 10 in the wings and I haven’t set up any new shows.  I am ready to go as far as the art goes… yet, now I have to photograph, photoshop, post to Etsy for pricing and specifics and then I have to make a letter for approaching galleries, yes- galleries!  I am so over setting up shows in places where the directive is a lemonade and a sandwich and people are just not there to look at or purchase art.  Now, I realize the tough economic times are upon us, and people are not as apt to drop their cash, but I know I am worthy and it is all about the marketing.  So… that is where I intend to focus my energy, well, as much as I can spare after I make some more art;)

She’s here, I’m here, We made it!

The art was cast, spackled, glittered and sealed. Then backed with wood veneer.  The hardware holes were drilled and the grommets set.  In all, there were 47 pieces packed with bubble wrap and carefully placed in the mini-van. It took me nearly 2 hours to pack and 1 hour to drive down to the dirty Divisadero.  Ahh, the reek of the city!

The event, Divisidero Art Walk, had a great turnout.  I even got to meet the handsome district supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.   Although I had a real bad case of larengitis, I did manage to squeek out some conversation about my methods and inspiration-  Today, I can’t say anything above a whisper-but it was worth it! 

When I was hanging the space, I had a couple kids and moms come in and say ooooo, Wow! And “It is a whole different world in here.” Later in the evening a little girl, about 5, nonchalantly said,  ”Your work inspires me.”  I also had someone recognize my work right off. A friend of his had bought a piece from another show I did at Atlas Cafe- over 10 years ago! I can’t tell you how fun it is for me to have my work recognized-little people and city freaks alike!

On another note, let me just say, it is tough going getting all the household chores done when you have to put your face inches from your childrens to be heard.  I rely far to much on barking out commands to get things to run smoothly.  Take note that clapping loudly is a great tool to command attention in this sad, voiceless, state.

Ready…Set…Whoa!

So, I’de like to report that all my endeavors have been pulled off without a hitch…not so.  The day before Mothers day, I poured about $200 of PMC Rubber, nasty stuff, on my “chosen few” paintings. The idea was to create perfect molds from which to make easy reproductions and then bask in the glory of a job well done with less airborne particles and more choices for the consumer in color and style.  

Well, I forgot one last detail. One of the 500+ details that went into making and preparing the piece for the task.   I didn’t screw down my paintings to the boxes they were being cast in and they started to float in the rubber!!!  It was a toxic mess!  I managed to scrape some of the setting rubber off the bottom of two of the small paintings and create 3 small imperfect molds. The plaster pieces that come out of these molds need filling and sanding… and filling and sanding… and then a piece of door skin cut to size, and then re-cut to be flush after being glued and clamped and sanded and filled one last time…before painting and signing and sealing the work to be hung on a cool, inset, metallic rivet.  

So, when all is said and done, I have some serious hours put in to the eye candy that will be brought bubble wrapped to the city next week!  I am hoping to have at least three of each new piece to choose from.  I gotta get crackin’- there is plenty more sanding a filling to do before show time.

On Fire!

The ideas are flowing now and I can barely keep the blank canvasses in stock.  I am working on a series of birds to sell as prints at a few quirky venues during the summer.  I am also very close to pouring my next three gallons of urethane rubber on the chosen few for reproduction.  It’s a toss up what will make the final cut.  Do I focus on my personal fav’s?… or do I shoot for the series that I can market in a new arena? More specifically, the container paintings that I haven’t been producing for awhile.  My collection has dwindled down to things in disrepair or recently rediscovered pieces that had been abandoned at my last studio site.

My master plan, at this moment in time,  is to make a slip cast mold of one of the flower pieces, with container at the center, to make available at a local ceramics painting parlor.  I am not sure what the cost would be to make them, and or what would be a reasonable charge for the consumer, but they carry some pricey items that couldn’t hold a candle to painting your own flower stash piece!  And in such a art thirsty town with yuppies a plenty, I couldn’t go wrong.  Right?

I think I will now channel the passed on advice of a fellow artist, getting advice from a female mastermind in the arts business in NYC.  Her words were something akin to …”Stay the course, make up your mind and commit to it, and if you stay committed, you will eventually be the last one standing, and hence the one to receive the pay-off.”

So, perseverance furthers, I’ve heard that one before.  But with three..no, four specific series dividing my time and efforts, I think it is sound advice. That’s the bird series, (which needs another row of 5 on the website to round out the collection ), the plant series, the cityscape’s, and the fish.

Look for more birds coming soon.