Sneak Peek

As some of you know who read this blog I have been working on two large projects for months now, this one should be done by January. I sewed 183 tea bags and here are a couple details. When I am done I will post here, but it will likely be after the Holidays. This Painting is only 40" x 40", but with my labor intensive  process that is large. I have dreams of doing 100"x 100" paintings, but would need help with that, someday it will happen.
XOXO

Happy Thanksgiving

This is my favorite holiday, not because I like what we did to the Native Americans, which is shameful and not because of the food, though it is wonderful, I love this day because it puts a focus on gratitude.
I learned long ago how powerful and magical gratitude is and I make it a daily practice.
Today I give you a short list of what I am grateful for most:
My health
The health of those I love most
My family and friends
My furbabies
The obvious things like a roof over my head, food to eat, heat.
After all that the thing I am most grateful for is my talent and the fact that I am an artist,
I am grateful for having something in my life I am passionate about.
I am also grateful for good art which I am sorry to say is in short supply these days, but that makes it so much more wonderful when I do see some.
Taos Mountain and all of nature in all it's beauty and wonder.
Books
Movies
Cupcakes
Paris
Magic, which is every where you look.
A warm bed
A good cup of coffee
There is so much to be grateful for, feel free to add to my list.
xoxo

New Collage

In my last post I told you about my new table and my new collage practice that I am working on to give me a break from my big projects. I am still having fun and this is my latest finished collage. This collage is for sale, email me if you are interested and I can send more photos. $75 plus $16 shipping in the US. I will ship out of the US, but it is costly.
The last photo is my cat Max helping me as I work, he thinks the table is for him.
I am happily working on more collage today as it is rainy and windy out and threatening to snow.
Stay tuned.
XOXO

New Collage

A friend gave me a very large and long work table, it is great as it folds up and can be hidden away when not in use. Last week I got it out and set it up in the middle of my living room. It has plenty of space for tons of collage material to be spread out on and that is exactly what I did!
I have been working on two large and time consuming projects that I will share at some point, let me just say there is a lot of sewing going on with teabags. I needed something more immediate to work on for a break, so with the table as my inspiration I began making collage. Here is the first one for the week.
It is for sale if anyone is interested just email me and I will give you more information and photos.
The price is 90 plus 16 shipping in the US.
I always love to hear your thoughts.
Happy Fall!!! I am really loving it as it is my favorite and only lasts about 6 weeks in Taos.
xoxo

This is an Art Rant (Beware)

I just learned something that really shocked me, though it should not have now that I really think about it.
I thought it would be fun to look up the ten best female artists alive now, there was no list, but there were a bunch of lists about the best artists. I looked at one and what I found was indeed shocking.
Out of 100 men there were only two women, both dead, Frida Kahlo was #49 (49!!!!) and Georgia O'keeffe was #94 (94!!!!).
This is so amazing because I can think of many women who should be on this list that never even made it, where is Louise Nevelson and Louise Bourgeois?! Just to name two, I could fill this page up with names.
And what of the women alive today who are making great art?
I really never paid attention to this before, to me good art is made by both sexes, but I heard a female artist say they changed their name to be more male sounding because men got better prices for their work. This made me sit up and notice what was going on.
As a female artist this is so disappointing.
I don't make art for the money, if I did I would have stopped many years ago, but I do want the same pay and rewards that a man would get.
Do any of you find this shocking? Or have I had my head in the sand for too Long?
Please share. xoxo

New Mixed Media Painting

This is my new 16"x16" mixed media painting. I sewed the ends of tea bags that I cut off doing my bigger project (someday I will share) and used them in this piece to make the grid. As usual all the detail gets lost in the photos, but I included some detail shots to help a little also if you click on an image and then click again it lets you enlarge.
I always love to hear your thoughts.
XOXO

Great News

This beautiful book by Roxanne Evans Stout can now be pre ordered on Amazon.
I am honored to have one of my collage paintings included in the book.
It has been a long time coming and now the wait is almost over, not until December, but you can pre order it now, go HERE.
Happy Autumn! My favorite time of the year.XOXO

My Summer Hikes

I thought I would show you where I hiked this Summer. There is a road that goes along the Gorge river, full of all sorts of wild life, here there is a rabbit that is always there and also Big Horn Sheep, two of which were on the trail today, but they were too fast to get a photo. It is a beautiful hike and always leaves me full of wonder and inspires my work. XOXO

New Tea Bag Collage

 This is a new 20"x 20" teabag  collage, also Venetian plaster, oil paint, coffee, graphite and thread,
finished with cold wax. I included a close up shot, but if you click on image and then click again you can see all the yummy details.
Always love to hear from you.
XOXO

Fall Arts in Taos

I have shared this painting with you before, but wanted to let you in on my good news I received today, this painting has been selected for the Fall Arts Selects show. This will be the fourth year for me. It all happens the end of September. This painting is 40"x 40" mixed media. Happy weekend to you all. XOXO

Inspiration

                                                         Leonardo Drew


“I was recently encouraged by Patience Brewster, an artist new to me who does darling Christmas ornaments, of Artist Appreciation Month. So to honor the artists I love most I want to talk about the two artists who have inspired my work for the last three years. I first found Leonardo Drew and Lawrence Carroll on the Internet, I fell in love with both of these artists work instantly. Leonardo has inspired me more than any other artist and I think if you look at my work of the last few years you can see his influence. I am working with very different media and a much smaller scale, but his willingness to use anything in his art and his willingness to go where the piece takes him is what I find most inspiring and his dedication to his work, working up to 18-20 hours a day. I love his work so much, I could look at it for hours.
Then there is Lawrence, I found him online about a year ago and I love the simplicity of his work and his subdued color palette has inspired me most, he too has a willingness to use all sorts of mediums and to follow the work where ever it takes him.
I am daily inspired by many artists, but these men are currently firing me up and spurring me on to do my best work ever. Thank you Leonardo and thank you Lawrence for being the true artists you are, the real deal.
I love to hear your thoughts...
XOXO

Leonardo Drew

A few posts back I told you how I had been to a show at Site Santa Fe and how I had missed meeting
Leonardo Drew (my current favorite artist in the world). My friend V saw my post and alerted Drew's assistant, who read my post and alerted Drew. He felt badly and sent me this gorgeous book of his work.
I have been drooling over it all afternoon :-). Thank you Leonardo. XOXO

New Tea Bag Collage

I actually completed this collage a few months ago, but never got around to showing you.
Small 12"x 9" tea bags sewn together and burned rice paper along with drawings and oil and graphite and cold wax.
I have been busy with life and also working on a huge project that may take up to a year to complete, will show you some sneak peeks when I get further along. I will also be working on paintings  while I go along, but it will be slower and I will likely have less to show for a while.
I always love to know your thoughts.
XOXO

Site Santa Fe and the Case of the Disappearing Artist

I went to Site Santa Fe Friday night to see Unsuspected Possibilities, a wonderful show. One of the artists was Leonardo Drew, I love his art so much and it was a thrill to see some of it in person. Leonardo was to be there and I looked forward to meeting him. He came in very late and I waited while he talked to a few of the patrons, I looked away for just a minute and when I turned back he was gone, vanished into thin air, I looked everywhere, but he had left. So while I did not get to meet him his work was awesome and I share photos I took of  it here. Also in the show is another wonderful artist, Marie Watt, due to the way her art was hung I was not able to get photos, but go here to see her beautiful work:
 http://mariewattstudio.com/about,
also not part of the show, but in Site was a beautiful piece by Ann Hamilton, go here to see her work:
https://sitesantafe.org/exhibition/site-20-years-20-shows-summer/
 Enjoy these works by Drew. XOXO

Another New Collage/ Burn Series

 This is one of the 3 new paintings/collage, 12"x 12". I included many detail shots because I love the yummy texture. Venetian plaster, rice paper, ink, thread, graphite, cheese cloth, oil paint, tea, and cold wax on cradle board. This is another in my burn series.
 I always love to hear from you.
Happy 4Th of July. XOXO

New Collage/Burn Painting

This is my new collage,14 1/2" x 11" mixed media collage. I believe it is finished, but I need to live with it for a few weeks to be sure. This one is in my burn series. Venetian plaster, rice paper, graphite, cheese cloth, oil paint on cradle board.
I hope you are all well and having a wonderful Summer.
I have to say Summer is not my favorite, too hot and too many bugs, but I try to find something to love about all seasons and I do like the long days of Summer. Also so far it is a much cooler Summer than usual, taking lots of long hikes with Bella and reading a lot. I feel a bit lazy and I am not pushing myself  to do anything I don't feel to do. I completed 3 paintings at once and will share the other two soon.
I always love to hear your thoughts.
XOXO

New Collage/Painting

This is my new 18"x 18" painting. I took many dried used tea bags, cut up in pieces, sewed together, glued on board, with several layers of venetian plaster, oil and acrylic paint, graphite, then covered with more venetian plaster, more layers of paint and graphite, finished with cold wax. This piece is titled "The Art of Tea #3".
I love this painting and now have the joy of looking at it daily before it goes anywhere :-).
I always love to hear what you are thinking.
Happy Memorial Day, a bittersweet holiday filled with reflection.
XOXO

Living With Art

I have joined the wonderful Seth Apter in his Living with art series, we were to send in a photo that shows how we live with art, this is a painting of mine that has since went to the gallery, but I live with my paintings a while first to make sure they are keepers. Go see all the art at Seth's blog. xoxo

New Collages

I have been busy and having great fun with these new collages I am making for my ETSY shop and gallery in Ranchos NM,  I am trying  new things and also making things to sale at a lower price point. My paintings take much longer to do and I feel that I can't sell them for any lower prices than they already are. I make my living from my art after all and would very much like to do it full time. I am now able to work just part time, so I am very grateful. I think it is important to make art that everyone can afford. Money is always a troublesome area when it comes to art and it is not an area I feel comfortable even talking about, but it was part of the reason I began doing these collages, the other reason is that I have a larger vision, I want to do really strange, wonderful, large collage pieces and I have found it hard to begin. I felt that these smaller pieces could lead me in the direction I want to go. I will always still do my paintings, I just want to grow and expand my work.
These collages are the first step, made of tea stained paper, ink drawings by me, burned rice paper, thread, found ephemeral, white charcoal, watercolor and rust. I have included close up photos.
Top piece is "Constellations" 14 1/2" x 12 1/2", bottom piece is "Chas White" 16 1/2"x 12".
They will be going into my shop in the next week or so, the price is $95.00 plus shipping unframed.
If you would like one let me know and I will reserve it for you.
I would love to know what you think. XOXO