Flowers in Snowmass, Colorado

I spent last week making art at Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass, Colorado. Late June is the perfect time to spend some time high up in the Rocky Mountains. The weather is spectacular and the flowers are unbeatable.

These poppies were planted near the spot I chose for my daily meditations. Their scarlet color caught my eye every time I walked by . . . breathtaking!

I saw numerous varieties of Columbines, like this peachy-yellow one above, and this rich violet one below.

 

This is the traditional Colorado Columbine, the state flower. These flowers are so delicate and short-lived. They are truly a testament to the beauty and fragility of life!

And finally, I had never seen lupine in this shade of pink before. I have typically seen the silver, purple, and yellow ones in the wild. I’m amazed by the color variants found within one species.

Next week, we’ll begin exploring all new flora and fauna in our new home-state of Washington, see you then!

Anderson Ranch + Critique Workshop / Part 5

My final presentation at Anderson Ranch this week was really minimal and simplified. I narrowed down my concept so that the work would be more specific, yet also more open-ended.

I wrote up a mission statement to describe what I wanted my work this week to be about. It all boils down to this:

My work is about the material body plus the mental/emotional space that partners with physical embodied experience. It has a voice that is powerful but not aggressive.

I had worked all week trying to do too much within each individual piece I was making (especially the Stuffed Blue Heart). I wanted to strip away any extraneous visual information and leave only the essence of the physical/emotional experience in the heart center.

Each piece spills out from the wall at about chest-height, and is about 6x6 inches square.

I have about 1,000 ideas on ways to expand and build on this concept. I never thought about doing sculpture before now, and suddenly it’s all I can think about!

I hope I will be able to attend many more Critique Workshops at Anderson Ranch in the future. This was an amazing experience that has changed my work forever.

Anderson Ranch + Critique Workshop / Part 4

Ribcage Study

Finally, I figured out what I wanted to convey with my work this week at Anderson Ranch. But I still felt I needed to look at some other avenues for expressing it. I thought I wanted my work to be very open-ended and abstract, but I wanted to be certain. So I did these more representational drawings of the heart and ribcage, since the chest area became the primary area of the body to which I wanted to relate.

 

Heart Study

I like these drawings, especially combined with the ink washes, but the mood/tone I am going for right now is much more subtle. I think I should stick with abstraction for the final crit on tomorrow.

Anderson Ranch + Critique Workshop / Part 3

 Stuffed Blue Heart (detail)

Ink and twine on paper mounted on board

In process

I had been working on this piece for several days, trying to combine the ink work with the twine work. I worked out a lot of issues in this one, and I am able to really begin to focus on the issues that really matter to me: making art that is about a/the material body and the mental/emotional space that partners with physical embodied experience.

Stuffed Blue Heart (detail)

Ink and twine on paper mounted on board

In process

I began to add more and more design elements to this piece, which I think looks good, but was actually taking away from the simplicity of what I’m trying to convey. I love decoration (see my graphic design work), so it has been hard to let go of wanting to decorate everything with color and little graphic elements.

 Stuffed Blue Heart (detail)

Ink and twine + gouache on paper mounted on board

In process

Gary Simmons, workshop leader, suggested that I was using the painting surface as a crutch, because it’s something I’m comfortable with. Perhaps that’s true. He asked me if I really should be doing sculpture at this point, to which I responded ‘probably, yes, but that makes me uncomfortable.’ . . . So, here I go, abandoning the painting surface and moving my work directly onto the wall (look for that work tomorrow, it’s not finished yet!).

Stuffed Blue Heart

Ink and twine on paper mounted on board

In process

When this piece is finished, knotted twine will billow and spill out from all the holes in the center of the painting, creating a three-dimensional effect. You can see that the piece is really about the action in the center, and I need to get rid of the background completely.

Anderson Ranch + Critique Workshop / Part 2

Holes and Protrusions

Studies for twine

This week at Anderson Ranch, I’ve been working back and forth between using my inks and working with twine. You can see yesterday’s ink work here.

This series of studies is looking at ways to utilize the membrane of the paintings’ surfaces as something that can be penetrated in different ways with the twine (plus perhaps other materials).

Holes and Protrusions

Studies for twine

Tomorrow I’ll show you how the two (ink & twine) are starting to combine in new ways for me. The jury is still out on whether my experiments are going to be a success.

Anderson Ranch + Critique Workshop / Part 1

Self-portrait on a blank sheet of paper

Digital photograph

This week I’m at Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass, Colorado taking the Contemporary Studio Critique workshop with Gary Simmons. It has been interesting so far: Monday was spent going through a preliminary overview and general critique of the ten students’ work up to the present moment. Today, we’ve been working on our own and have had individual discussions with Gary.

Self-portrait on a painted sheet of paper

Digital photograph

I usually work on several different artworks at once, and it’s no different at Anderson Ranch this week! I have 6 pieces going already, and it’s only the second day of the workshop, and that’s not including the process photos  above and the video you’ll see below.

The painting with quivering aspen leaves

Digital video

I’m always interested in conveying some sense of spiritual energy in my art, whatever the media. Today was the first time I took my inks outside to work (I didn’t want to smoke everyone out of the studio with my rubbing alcohol), and now I wonder why I never did it before! I set up shop on a wooden balcony that sits on the edge of a rushing creek. The first thing I noticed were the shadows cast by the aspen leaves overhead, and how they moved over my empty sheet of paper. Then, again, as I worked on my painting, the little quivering shadows surely must’ve influenced my composition. I decided to shoot a quick video of the shadows dancing on top of the painting.

I’ll show you some of the other stuff I’m working on tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Colorado Love

Colorado makes
me feel
                        
grounded.


The earth

                  up
reaches
to meet me.

Design In Progress: FIDM View Book

I’ve been working on a new college view book for the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. It’s about 64 pages, and will include lots of information for students on life at FIDM. These are two of the cover concepts I’ve been working on. The text is being tweaked now, so the interior pages are still in progress. I think this view book will be a nice snapshot of what it’s like to be a student on campus. When we finish this one, we’ll start working on the second view book in the series, which will focus on the exciting careers of FIDM graduates.

See more of my design work for FIDM here.

 

New Designs: Ute Learning Garden

Several months ago, I finished working on a project to create seven interpretive signs for the new Ute Learning Garden at the Mesa County Fairgrounds in western Colorado. I worked with the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, and Colorado State University Extension to complete the project.

I really enjoyed working on this project, and learned a lot about how Native Americans lived on the land before they were pushed out by white settlers.

My only regret is that I didn’t have a voice in creating the posts that the signs were eventually mounted on. I probably would’ve chosen something a little more substantial weight-wise and painted them darker colors that aren’t as distracting. But overall, I think the signs themselves look great! I’m looking forward to the completion of the garden. Hopefully then they will invite me to help them unify everything graphically throughout the entire exhibit.

I’d love to have more opportunities in the future to work with educators to create interpretive displays for the public.

My Work at Gregory Way Gallery

Musical Series: Orange Triptych

Available in the window at 

Gregory Way Gallery

245 S. Beverly Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Last month I hosted a booth at the Beverly Hills Art Festival. I met the director of the Gregory Way Gallery there, and we’ve been corresponding about getting more of my work there on display! These are the pieces I’ll be shipping next week:

 Karma #04

48x36 inches. Acrylic & ink on board.

Tangential Thinking #04

24x36 inches. Ink on paper on board.

Tangential Thinking #02

24x36 inches. Ink & gouache on paper on board.

Tangential Thinking #05

24x36 inches. Ink & gouache on paper on board.

Sold! In Downtown Denver

Jewels of the Mind (05) 
Ink and gouache on paper on board. 
24x24 inches. 2010.

I sold these pieces (plus some others) at the Downtown Denver Arts Festival this past weekend. I also made some contacts for possible future opportunities!   

Moments of Clarity (04)
Ink on paper. 
13x10 inches. 2010.

Karma (02)

Ink and gouache on paper. 
13x10 inches. 2010.

Maneki Neko in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

When I was in Los Angeles last week, my friend Kim and I took a stroll around Little Tokyo. I saw this Maneki Neko in the window of a shop, and fell in love with it. Maneki Neko is a “beckoning cat” which is known as a welcoming cat, and is also thought to attract luck and fortune. I think I may get one for my next art show, and see if my sales improve! I want one that’s about 6 inches tall.

Sold! In Beverly Hills

YoYoYoYo. (Detail) Twine on paper. 20x26 inches. 2010.

I’ve just started a whole new series of these white on white beauties! Hopefully I can show you more of them soon. This first one was really popular at the Beverly Hills Art Show this weekend.

 Astronomical 02. Ink and twine on paper. 10x13 inches. 2010.

 

Intertwining Strands of Something (06).  

Ink and gouache on paper. 6x19 inches. 2010.

My Beginning Drawing Students Rocked This Semester!

Brandon Smith

Jessica Weidner

Anthony Via

Dylan Svaldi

Doug Martin

Oops, I can't remember who did this awesome gesture drawing!

Be an Organ Donor: Ella Watson

 Get Well Soon (detail)

I found out this morning that my friend’s father is having a liver transplant today. I feel such gratitude and hope everything goes well for him. Being an organ donor is probably the most selfless gift you could offer to a family in need. My own dad died while waiting for a life-saving liver to come his way, which sadly, it never did.

 Self-portrait in Bile and Beets

When another artist friend, Katie Shaw, heard about this, she introduced me to one of her former art students from Virginia Commonwealth University—Ella Watson. Ella had been liver transplant recipient herself, and documented her experiences through her artwork (shown in this post).

 My First Drawing on IV Morphine (Mummy would be so proud)