I am so delighted to announce that my painting End of Spring has been picked up by Doubleday Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada to grace the cover of best selling author Christy Ann Conlin’s new novel, The Memento, set to be published this spring 2016! This is my first glimpse of the advance reader’s copy that will go out to get reviews and the like but already …
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Wet day at the studio with my Yume camellia….
Islamic artist Nabeela Sajjad hosted an Interfaith Dialogue over tea last week with an inspiring group of women. We hope to work collaboratively on art that will reflect the cultural diversity of our community, break down some prejudice and bridge some divides. It’s so important to come together as a community at a time when ignorance, fear and misinformation is running rampant. I can’t wait ti see what will unfold! …
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In my life’s garden my wealth has been of the shadows and lights that are never gathered and stored. Tagore So beautiful and true. The moments that touch us the deepest or shatter us to the core are not the fabric of selfies and blogs. Even wedding photographs and announcements of births and deaths that attempt to evoke our happiness and sadness can only hint at the vast truth of it …
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Black Friday will now be known to me as Bioluminescent Friday! Making a point not to shop, I went out hiking with family and friends. I didn’t even have my proper camera with me but I did have my little iPhone 4 and I just could’t resist taking pictures every now and then, like these shots of the sun setting over a hillside of ferns. I could barely see what …
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The dogwood outside my studio is glowing red now, by March it should be covered in lovely white blooms ….and of course I’ll be waiting with my teacup!!
After four years of drought, it looks like were finally going to get a decent El Niño! This was the second day of heavy rain and I delighted in keeping my studio windows open to hear all of that rolling thunder! I love how cozy and inviting the studio is in the midst of all that rain! It always amazes me how the rain makes everything look different! The beginning of …
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My husband finally had his music room soundproofed – it looks great but pretty bare and when he asked me if I had any artists on my shortlist I didn’t hesitate – Jaya King! I’ve been following her work for a while now and I’m in love with her spontaneity and spirit of her work. She has an amazing sense of her materials (what ever they are) and brings out …
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The last of the tree to go…. ….well it was pretty dramatic, they had to cut wedges from the base just so and pull with ropes to make sure the trunk didn’t torque and smash into the building on its way down – I was shaking with my camera and I wasn’t even the one pulling on the tree or wielding the chainsaw! Though the limbs had rot and fissures, …
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Can you guess? Got it? How many did it take? I’ll post the final effect when I get dressed…I make a terrible blonde! Me as Tippi Hedron playing Melanie Daniels in Alfred Hitcock’s The Birds. Me with my crow. Still being attacked by the bird on my head…
So……this was happening above my studio today…..so nothing much was happening within it. I knew this chainsaw vs oak day was coming after the crown of this massive oak toppled recently. Even though the arborist said it was best to take it all the way down, that it would never be a healthy tree again, I was still sorry to see it go. The sadness was mixed with fear …
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My friend Elizabeth introduced me to Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Located in Dog Patch, this urban garden design store is a drought tolerant jungle of inspiration! It has even been claimed that they pioneered the vertical garden… I wonder if anyone can vouch for that? I loved these oversized floral sculptures in metal. I felt the size on an insect crawling beneath! Wall covered with these red passion …
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I used to sew a LOT – my prom dress, my wedding dress, clothes for my children, costumes, quilts, upholstered furniture and art. Now heaps of of fabric sit waiting in boxes I may never get to because I’ve been all about the painting for some time now. Still, there is a love of textile that lingers, and I’d often wondered where Bay Area seamsters go to get their fix? …
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For those of you who have been following my Birds & Teacups series, you must know my process by now: antique teacup ✔ matching bouquet ✔ combine above and wait for a bird (or two) to fly in and pose while I shoot with dramatic lighting ✘ combine above and shoot with dramatic lighting ✔ take pictures of local birds ✔ add birds (in a naturalistic way) into the still …
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I was so happy to enjoy a visit with artist Shannon Amidon in her San Jose studio preparing for her upcoming show, Diary of a Naturalist at TechShop 300 S Second St San Jose, CA 95113 where she is currently artist in residence – the opening reception is Friday, September 4 from 7 -10 pm with live music by Mark Camp! In this series Amidon has used laser cutting tools to create …
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I do love a pop-up – here today and gone tomorrow – did you catch it? I got a note from Frank Interiors that there was going to be a pop-up market place held at Linda Benenati‘s Saratoga art studio on Saturday and I had to go, missing Frank as I do since they closed up shop earlier this year (too cool for Los Gatos). Nothing says fun market place …
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This golden dragonfly (Wandering Glider) I found dying in my foxglove from a wasp attack is a perfect example of a common decorative motif in the Aesthetic Movement. Dragonflies figured prominently in the jewelry and metalwork of the period not only as this insect was so successfully rendered in these mediums but also because it was a favorite motif in Japanese art which was having a strong influence in Western culture …
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Today I tried to save a dragonfly from a wasp in what turned out to be a mortal encounter. After shooing the wasp away, I picked it up from under the foxglove and took it to my studio. The dragonfly did not recover like I hoped it might. There were a few other arrivals to my studio today too. I had won a few little religious books with a forget-me-not …
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Welcome to the Clam House! This is the treehouse that the campers at Montalvo’s Out on a Limb treehouse camp collaboratively built with artist and teacher, Justin Lowman (to name just one of the fabulous staff that worked with the kids on this project). First campers got together in groups coming up with models for their tree houses. Ideas were combined and modified. Through trial and error, …
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A little present left near my doorstep this morning reminds me that inspiration is everywhere. I wonder if it’s from the breast of a hawk? There’s one that frequents the ravine that drives the crows nuts. It could be A red shouldered hawk, or a cooper’s hawk, both are found in our area.