"Farmhouse Evening" - Private Collection Installation -Christmas 2011

Christmas was sweet this year.   The kids came home and they’re both doing so well this year that our biggest wish in life has already manifested.

Now comes that distracting week where I really want to be back in the studio. Here’s hoping I get my wish by tomorrow.   I’ve got some big shows to plan for including the La Quinta Arts Festival in March and a feature show at Sewell Gallery in April.  I also have lots of paintings in my head that want to come out, two of which were started before the holidays.   The truth is, the artist just wants to make art!

Thank you Lindy and Rob for sending me this beautiful pic of your mantle all dressed up with “Farmhouse Evening.”    xxooo!

Busy time continues and I’ve been holed up in my studio for the past few weeks working away.    Sometimes the business of being an artist means juggling deadlines, details and most importantly, showing up.     In addition to a large commission, which thank goodness I have a few months to complete,  I have gallery shows and another art festival this opening this weekend.   This pastel is for a group  show at Studio Seven Fine Arts in Pleasanton, California through October.

This weekend is also the LaJolla Art and Wine Festival where I will be showing new work.   This is the last festival of the season and the year.   I’m looking forward to spending some time on the Southern California coast, visiting friends and family and taking a much needed break with my sweet husband.     I did a series of small paintings revisting my ocean series.   The beach is where I go to clear my mind and refresh my creative juices and it just seemed fitting to return to this imagery after a work filled season.    This was a long summer and I’m ready for fall.    Bring on the autumn color!

See you on the other side.

And then fireworks!  Have a Happy and Safe 4th!

"Into the Hills" 12x12" Pastel

I just wrapped up my annual open studio as part of  Humboldt County’s North Coast Open Studios.   I have a home based business so I’m opening my home as well as my studio.  This is the 8th year I have participated in the event and by now, my husband, daughter and I have our system down to a well oiled machine.   My daughter is graduating from high school in a few weeks and Saturday was senior prom so I didn’t expect to have her around to help – she has a job now and  a lot of freedom to come and go so when I saw that she was up and preparing the food for the guests it warmed my heart.    Taking prom pictures at 5;00 while wrapping up paintings that had sold was not easy….I had to pull in one of my neighbors who was visiting  to help with my daughter’s date’s boutonniere (thank you Sue!)  All in all the weekend was a success and we had a steady stream of visitors and placed a surprising amount of paintings with the locals, most of which were new collectors of my work.    THANK YOU HUMBOLDT COUNTY!

I thought it might be of interest to post some images from my Open Studio Tour to give you an idea of how I do it.   I showcase the framed originals in my great room and down our main hallway that leads directly to the studio which is located in two sections of our finished five car garage –  a major selling point when we bought our home nearly 10 years ago.   I have a separate “clean room” that is a finished one car garage with a skylight and has a door to the painting room.   The clean room is used for storage, packing and shipping and will soon be divided for use as an oil painting studio as well.    There is direct access to a half bath for cleanup.    The pastel studio is just the right size to keep the dust contained.   There is a nice big window and enough wall space for me to mount my surfaces to the acoustic panels to work on.    I prefer working standing up – I always have.   I think I am more the exception than the rule when it comes to how I work with pastels.   I usually see the easel approach utilized.   I work large sometimes and like to work on more than one piece at a time  and working on the wall makes that possible.   For Open Studios I showcased finished pieces on the studio walls -unframed and sold work  with a discount for framing at Eureka Art and Frame – my favorite framer on the north coast.   Enjoy the studio tour.  Additional photos can be seen on my Facebook page which can be accessed through the tab on the right.     I’m taking today to recuperate after working the last two weeks without a day off.  Would love your comments.

"Blue on Blue" 14"x28" Pastel

Its that time of year again…… Open Studios.   What does that mean?   Among other things it means I have to clean my cluttered studio.     The hardest part is deciding when to stop painting and start cleaning.    I often wonder about other artists’ habits in this regard.   Some people by virtue of their temperment and personality are very organized and tidy.   I do keep a pretty clean home overall and things are for the most part in their place but somehow I do tend to just want to get down to business when I get into my work space while I try to keep it simple – I can see that I could use some downsizing in the area of useless stored materials.     I have promised myself to “get on that” and “deal with the pile” that is taking over valuable real estate that could otherwise be used for secondary painting space.   It could be time to hire an organizer because it just seems to not happen and now my guests will have to gingerly navigate through the junk.   Its really not that bad.   I’d just rather paint up to the last minute!

Open Studios is always lovely because the studio is tidied and presented and paintings are available for exhibition and sale throughout my home and studio space.   I have an “Off the Wall” sale where collectors can negotiate on purchase pastels unframed right off the studio wall complete with a discounted coupon for framing at Eureka Art and Frame.    There is usually a nice flow of visitors throughout the weekend and my family chips in and hosts our guests and gives tours  and offers refreshments.    Living in an arts friendly area is rewarding and always amazes me.      I’ve gotten to know some pretty cool folks over the years in my own home!

If you are in or near Eureka this weekend please do come by Open Studios.    I will be open from 11-5 Saturday and Sunday at 2286 Ralphs Ct., Eureka.   Guidebooks will be available in the paper and around town.    Posted above is a recent local landscape from a day in Loleta.   Winters in Humboldt have their own beauty.   As I was painting, the song “Blue on Blue” kept going through my mind, thus the title.   I guess its an old song but if you’re a boomer it’ll come to you.

I love spring!  I’ve been painting with spring in mind.  I just dropped off a series of new work to Studio 7 Fine Art in Pleasanton, Ca last week and they already sold one of the new vineyard paintings.   I will be exhibiting in their May exhibit titled “Florals and the Feminine Figure” opening May 6.    Be sure to stop by this lovely gallery.

Also continuing through May is a group show of Northern California Landscapes including “moi” at Robert Allen Fine Art in Sausalito, CA.  If you are in the Bay Area this is a beautiful gallery to visit.   Robert has been in the San Francisco gallery business for decades and opened this gorgeous space several years ago.   I am always blown away when I see how aesthetically engaging his exhibitions are presented.    That and his warm and inviting personality make for a positive experience for the gallery browser or serious collector.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, I’ve been continuing with my abstract drawings.   These are wonderful meditations for me to produce and I enjoy the back and forth between the two series and the way they relate to each other.

"Wine Country Afternoon"

Opening on April 7 at Robert Allen Fine Art in Sausalito, California,  is “Northern California Landscapes” consisting of paintings from yours truly and a handful of other regional greats.   Robert Allen has created a beautiful setting in which to showcase his artists and it is definitely worth the visit.

Continuing at Studio 7 Fine Arts in Pleasanton, a series of recent landscapes can be found.   If you are in the Tri Valley Area, this gallery is a must see having one of the largest exhibition spaces in the Bay Area.

Be sure to check the Upcoming Events Section for where to find me in the months to come.

"Red Shutters" 19x25 Pastel

"Water Tower at Mid Day" 23x31" Pastel

The question of what a painter chooses as subject matter can sometimes be compared to an author.  The best writing tends to come from what you know.   I’ve been concentrating on landscapes for years more on than off and as my surroundings have changed so has my focus and direction.   I started painting in Southern California and my early work  dealt with that light and color sense.   I also lived in the suburbs so I found inspiration in suburban architecture.   Living in the Bay Area of California opened me up to the carved and othewise altered landscape of vineyards and farmland which for me was like stepping to an abundant waterfall of inspiration.   Living in Humboldt County for the past 8 years has  opened me up to a different sense of light, mood and terrain.   I love the muse my area provides yet I still am drawn to the geometry and colors of the vineyards that pepper the landscape from California into Oregon.   This is my visual playground and with my road trips and ever burgeoning photo library I have a plethora of imagery that continues to call me.    While I am usually excited about a recent expedition to go into the studio to explore I return often to trips and images from my past and revisit them in the studio.   There are many times I do not know what I am going to be painting on a particular day.   I visit my Iphoto libarary and a sequence of images will speak to me visually and I am on my way.

Here are some recent paintings.  I have been hooked on rural architecture for months now, segueing back into vineyards.  Other new pastels are posted in the Pastel Library and under Rural Architecture.

"Green Roofs" Pastel

When I was a kid one of my favorite artists was Andrew Wyeth.   I had a bookon his art and I remember studying it and admiring  the beautiful starkness of mood he was able to create with his gorgeous watercolors and egg tempera paintings, two media that I myself delved into “back in the day.”   Later it was Edward Hopper who I meditated on with abandon.   My dear friend from art school, Terry Jane and I flew to San Francisco from L.A. to see his retrospective at SF’s MOMA in 1981.   We still laugh because we had to carry our luggage through the museum.   Apparently we would have done anything to see a once in a lifetime event like that.   Hopper’s landscapes propelled the painter within me.    The common thread between the two is the sense of stillness, of solitude these artists so beautifully achieve in their depictions of scenes from their  surroundings and their travels.

In the series of work I have been developing over the past several years involving rural architecture, I feel a sense of going back to my roots as a painter to the initial inspirations that guided what my painting has always been about at its core.  Though my earliest work was decidedly more suburban in subject matter – as was my actual surroundings,  the thread of my early obsession with painting masters Wyeth and Hopper was always there.

In my work, and with pastel specifically there is a tendency for it to create a dreamlike atmospheric feeling in the finished work.    Since I continue to play with the premise of a heightened sense of reality or a dreamlike version of same, it continues to be my favorite medium of choice.   My latest completed pastel landscape painting in the rural architecture series is “Green Roofs.”  I was very attracted to this composition for its sense of disquieting calm amidst a blaze of color, pattern and light.

And the journey continues…..

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Now, the last of the land, property and buildings had been sold and she wanted to give her parents a gift for Christmas to memorialize the property – a pastel painting for their new home which they were in the process of building. After spending an afternoon walking the property and taking reference photographs I chose a composition from one of Trish’s favorite areas of the property to do the painting from.

On Christmas, Trish’s parents were presented with the painting and were reportedly elated.   This was one of the most enjoyable commissions I’ve worked on and I’ve created hundreds in my career.   Trish selected another painting I created from the site – of the grainery building seen below.   After giving a gift like that she had to go home with something  to remind  her  of such an amazing and historically significant place.   Thank you Trish and thank you Emerson Family!