Daybreak

Whoa! It's been a long time! I finished this painting a while back, and this is just a placeholder photo.. so the colors and focus are a bit off. But wanted to get back to the blog.  I think I posted it on my Facebook page earlier. I am not as productive as I once was.. but that seems to be a pattern for me.. It doesn't take much these days to knock me out of the discipline and routine it takes for me to show up and paint. Holidays, travel, the show ( previous post), illness, activities.. Oh well, not done yet!

"daybreak"  18"x36" oil/canvas/ 

Room of my own

I  am honored to be included in a show with two other local artists who also are interested in water.  This is the first time I have had more than 3 pieces in a show, and I have a room all to myself.  My husband helped me install the show last week and I am very pleased with the way it looks..

Check out willnoble.com and nelsonhee.com to see their beautiful work. 

                               A late addition, "dark sea" Painted almost totally from memory.

"Dark Sea" 16"x20", oil on canvas 2014

Dry Spell

 The relaxing break I decided to give myself after #100, turned into a long stretch of not painting. No inspiration, no desire, no discipline.. Trying to be patient with it and see what it's all about.  Maybe I'm done? The last time I felt like this I stopped the pastel paintings I had been doing for ten years or so,  tried a lot of different things, and then water appeared.. first in the form of drawing, then acrylics, then oils. Hence a body of work.

Most of my paintings are seeking to understand water,  based on what I am constantly exposed to. A few "surfy" paintings , because I love seeing people in the water.  A lot of  trying to capture how I feel when I encounter chin dropping beauty.  I also don't like to repeat the same images, which really limits me. I like being surprised, astonished. 

So I finished this little painting this week.. Maybe I am tumbling too.. hopefully that means moving forward, and maybe even reforming.. Guess I will find out. Stay tuned. 

"holy roller"  oil/panel 8"x10" 

ONE HUNDRED!

Just completed my one hundredth painting ( of water) ..  Am including background on the is to show scale. Makes me want go surfing again tomorrow.. at dawn..

4'x4'  oil/canvas

Just a second!

"in motion"   24"x24"  oil/canvas

Shaving creme? Cool Whip? Beaten egg whites?

Only a split second of early morning light hitting the foam left by waves crashing against a rocky shore.  I see these shapes all the time when I am in the water, and especially love the light of early mornings. As I study them I see the same forms appear over and over, the "pyramid" being one of them.  Trying to work a composition into something that is chaotic, unbalanced, and turbulent and constantly in motion.  Total opposite of the calm glassy waters I love so much.

Surrounded

 Finished this a while back but haven't been able to shoot good pics.. weather too nice!  So will make do with these. Even with the annoying uneven tones.

"Presence" was a continuation of a study of this amazing glassy blue water done from the POV of being practically at the water level.  I painted these on smooth hard surfaces, the most recent being some kind of metal. I love the smooth surface and it felt so appropriate for these paintings. I would love to paint a series of those, and just hang them at eye level around a room so one has the feeling of being in the water.. Maybe a shower head on the ceiling, sound of waves piped into speakers.. in the desert, a booth/art experience in burning man.. whoa, got carried away.. still...

"presence" 16"x26" oil/metal

"testing the water 2"  11"x14" oil/panel

Testing the water

"testing the water"  8"x10" oil/board

After a trip via ferry to the new SF Exploratorium, ( which is just amazing) I started seeing a new series of paintings in my minds eye..Not quite sure how to go about creating it, but this is just a small study of color and style very early in the process. Lots of unknowns but I have a plan.. 

Very exciting to be so inspired. Hope it stays!  One of my favorite quotes by e.e. cummings: " between conception and creation lies the shadow" or something like that. Ah, yes.

Heart and Soul

These past weeks, I have enjoyed paddling out and watching the backlit waves tumble forward in front of me.  Because of the fog and nature of the water in the Patch, often a bunch of sediment in the water gives the waves their grey brown color. I NEVER get tired of seeing this moment, and every morning in the water is another opportunity to see more and begin to understand just what it is I am seeing.  And when the fog is gone and the sun is shining low on the horizon, the color changes completely. ( maybe will paint that later? ) As with previously posted "Freefall" this moment touches something deep inside..   Which is why I keep painting.. 

"heart and soul"  18"x36"  oil/canvas