Art and Music

Music Engages The Right Brain.

Balanced Boulder Again
48" x 30"
$2500.

That's the creative side of the brain.  It's no wonder my studio is filled with music at all times. 

Caught Rock
48"x 36"
$ 3000.

Music activates, stimulates and relaxes the mind and body...a stimulant and a relaxant..hmmmm.   Music reaches the mind and influences the subconscious, taking you to places you might not be able to reach otherwise.   To take advantage of this, find music that appeals to you, but know it may be varied depending on the day and your mood.  Perhaps you will respond to classical, or rock, drumming or new age.  Try different types to find out how you respond to them. 

Caught

20"x16"

$600

Thomas Jefferson used music while writing the Declaration of Independence.  When he couldn't get the writing just the way he wanted, he would play his violin.  The music helped him get the thoughts in his brain onto the paper.

Serenity

16"x20"

$600

Music also affected Albert Einstein.  He would improvise on the violin to figure out his problems and equations.  

The Point

3"x3"

$35

While I don't play the violin (not since 4th grade anyway), I do frequently listen to violin or cello concertos when working.  Ok, I'm not saying I am Jefferson or Einstein, but music in the studio is beneficial for the creative process.  It takes me to a different place, so I am turning on Yo Yo Ma and heading into the studio (besides, even though it is the end of May, it is snowing here!).

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Final Desert Paintings

Departing The Desert For The Mountains

The desert commissions are complete, delivered and installed.  

The temps have inched up to over 100 degrees.. like 106, 107, 108.  This mountain woman cannot tolerate that kind of heat, and my palette continually dries far too quickly to facilitate the way I work.  It's back to the mountains for me, but just a few little desert plants as a finale.  My way of saying good bye to the desert for this year.

Schowe's Tunas

Acrylic on Canvas Board

3"x3"

$35

Schowe's Tunas inspired by a huge cactus plant growing in a friend's yard.  For months these tunas, as the fruit is called, have intrigued my creative brain.  After sketches and photographs of this particular plant, finally a small painting.  

Little Barrel

Acrylic on Canvas Board

3" x 3"

$35

The barrels from the Huntington Gardens crept onto this little canvas.

Little Fence

Acrylic on Canvas Board

3"x3"

$35

A stand of fencepost cacti growing close by could not be ignored.  

Then my brain started to make the move north and dictated few small mountain paintings to prime me for the move.  This one is inspired by the boulders off the Crystal Bay Point, Lake Tahoe, Nevada side.  You can see a couple others on my Facebook Artist's Page: Click Here  While you are there, click on the 'like' button to follow my page and you will get more frequent updates about my work.

Crystal Bay Point

Acrylic on Canvas Board

3"x3"

$35

Time to prime larger canvases for new Lake Tahoe inspired paintings.  The lake has called, the sketch book has already made a trip in the kayak, and it is so much cooler.  

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Field Trip!!!!

Do You Remember the Excitement These Words Generated When We Were Kids??  Field Trip.

When we were in school and the teacher announced a pending field trip, did this elicit thoughts of freedom from the classroom, joy, new experiences?  As adults we see this somewhat the same but add a layer of inspiration, learning and looking at new things in different ways.  So when we decided to take a field trip into Los Angeles to visit The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, then zip over to Olvera Street, and finally to LACMA to see a couple of the current exhibitions I was filled with thoughts of freedom, joy, inspiration, and learning.

First stop:  San Marino at the Huntington.  Our target was specifically The Desert Garden.  Wow!!

And Wow Again!!!

  What a great choice as the garden was in bloom.  Have you seen perfect cacti, no blemishes, huge as if they are fed steroids, with colorful blooms as well?  Most amazing and most inspirational.  

I paint these beauties, they are subject matter for me, so I spent time taking photos, sketching and absorbing the magnificence.  

Prickly Flower

7x5"

$ 100

After spending time with the prickly plants we wandered about and fell in love with the Rose Garden which was also at peak bloom.  

Julia Child Rose

Frequently the name of a person of note is attached to a rose and there were many represented here.  Did you know that there is a Julia Child rose?  The scent of the blossoms filled the air to tantalize our olfactories and the variety of color teased our vision.

Next stop, Olvera Street, in the oldest part of downtown Los Angeles.  The zig zag brick pathways of the street lay down the beginning of the visual entertainment here.  Twenty-seven historic buildings line the sides of this narrow walking street which has been in existence since the early 1800's.  

They have been serving up taquitos here since 1924

After a culinary treat of taquitos at our favorite stand, Cielito Lindo, we strolled the street taking in the cacophony of colors, sounds, and movement.


Final destination, LACMA:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

Frida Kahlo

Our goal was to visit 'In Wonderland' The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States exhibited in the Resnick Pavilion.  This is work influenced by dreams and the subconscious, filled with portraits, double portraits, and masquerades all demonstrating Surrealism's influence on the feminist movement.   

 LACMA is huge and varied, it's impossible to see everything, so we had just one more building we would tour which was the Broad Contemporary.  Favorites there included Robert Therrien's stacked plates and Metropolis II created by Chris Burden.   

As the end of the day drew near we found our energy subsiding, though the excitement generated earlier in the day remained.  Field Trip!  What an inspiring day and one that will be repeated.

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Painting Produce

Taking a Break From Painting Flowers

Yellow Pepper 1
7"x5"
Acrylic on Canvas Board
$100.

I needed to do some quick, fast, loose painting...all this detail on the Bird of Paradise and Hibiscus painting....I required a change of pace.

Green Pepper 1
7" x 5"
Acrylic on Canvas Board
$100

Wanting to paint peppers and artichokes since a farm tour a few months ago sent me into my studio for some fast,  energized, don't think about it, just paint painting.

Red Bell 2
8" x 6"
Acrylic on Canvas Board
$110

You may recall, I encouraged you to take a farm tour in a blog post last November.  When the opportunity presented itself to me in the Coachella Valley I went.  

Green Going To Red
7"x5"
Acrylic on Canvas Board
$100

The guide was Ellen Way of Prime Time Farms.  Prime Time grows peppers 365 days a year, which makes them the largest year-round, colored pepper growers in the US.  No wonder they are known as The Pepper People.  Not only did we visit their packing plant in Indio, but Ellen took us to a green house facility close to the Salton Sea where the peppers are grown indoors.  

Ellen is a champ of a guide and an enthusiastic speaker representing Prime Time Farms, California Women in Agriculture and buying local.  She taught everyone so much that day that I couldn't possibly pass it all along, but I do want to tell you a very interesting fact about peppers.  

One Red With Two Yellows

6" x 8"
Acrylic on Canvas Board
$110

Did you know there is no such thing as a green pepper?  Those green peppers we all buy are actually an immature red or orange or yellow pepper.  Give them some time and they will turn color.  They actually taste sweeter when they are the warmer colors, when they are more mature.  And did you know that a red pepper has more vitamin C than an orange?


After the pepper tour it was out into the fields to watch a globe artichoke harvest in a field owned by Ocean Mist. 

It May Have Choked Arty

3" x 3"

Acrylic on Canvas Board

$35.

Globes, like their name, are fairly round in shape and grow well in the desert climate. 

It Won't Choke Me

3" x 3"

Acrylic on Canvas Board

$35.

All the produce we saw was absolutely magnificent in color, shape and size.  All of it painting inspiration, and subjects I have wanted to work with since the tour.

Golden Globe

3"x3"

Acrylic on Canvas Board

$35

I had some gessoed canvas boards that were just asking for quick, fast, loose painting of produce and they were calling.  These are a few of the little paintings.  There will be more, but for now, it is back to the larger canvases and a new commission.  It was a great break!

To contact me click HERE

To visit my web site click HERE