Spontaneous: A New Series

 Spontaneous: Jump. Ink on paper. 8x8 inches. 2012.

The amazing spring weather and subsequent abundant flowers blooming all over town inspired this brightly-colored series. The rhododendrons are especially beautiful and vibrant right now, and I’m inspired!

 Spontaeous Series. Ink on paper. 8x8 inches (each piece). 2012.

 Spontaneous: Courage. Ink on paper. 8x8 inches. 2012.

Fabriano Features My Paintings

A few months ago, paper maker Fabriano purchased images of several of my paintings to include in their new paper sample books. I just got my copies in the mail today; they look great!

Graphic designers use these books to spec paper for their large press projects. The sample books show designers the best of what the papers can do with printing effects and inks.

What I love most about this piece is that it combines two of my favorite things—painting and printing.

I am humbled and full of gratitude that these Italian designers (a) found my work, and (b) appreciated its quality and ability to communicate the best of what their papers can handle.

Handpainted Watering Can for Charity

A few weeks ago I was asked (along with about 40 other artists) by a friend at Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network in Denver to custom paint a garden watering can for their upcoming fundraiser. I was honored to be a part of this project, and I hope they rake in tons of cash to help people in need.

The luncheon and auction will be held on May 11, 2012.

To find out more about the project and to register for the luncheon, click here.

North Carolina Gardens

During my recent visit to North Carolina, I got a chance to see some public gardens bursting with flowers.

The irises above were at the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University. They were so oddly colored, we couldn’t decide whether we liked them or not. I finally concluded that, yes, the color is complex and beautiful. The base of the flower is a muted purple, and it transitions to a bright yellow at the top. 

These classic amaryllis blooms were spectacular!

We saw beautiful, delicate columbines at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens.

I wish I could remember the name of these crazy flowers! The blooms are above, the buds in the photo below.

I think in a former life, I must’ve been a gardener. These gardens in springtime are so inspiring!

Haiku for Springtime in North Carolina

The green forest leaves'
Confetti celebration
Whispers love and light.

North Carolina Museum of Art

I went back to North Carolina to visit some family and attend a yoga teacher training course at Duke Integrative Medicine. I went to the North Carolina Museum of Art with my mom and sister to see how their permanent collection looks in the new building.

I’ve been visiting NCMA since high school. When I was a design student at NC State University, I used to go to the art museum to sketch and relax. Back in those days I was always drawn to the Byzantine religious paintings. This time I was more interested in abstraction.

This Frank Stella piece looks a lot better in the new building than it did in its previous home.

I notice now, looking back at the works I chose to photograph, that I was really drawn to geometric curves this time. I wonder if it has to do with experiencing the work in a different, brighter, more contemporary building. It really did seem like the modern and contemporary art fit better in the new space. The older, more historical works actually seemed more out-of-place than I remember them when they were exhibited in the other building.

The interior of the new building is great—it's open, bright, inviting. I wish the exterior was as nice. I was disappointed that the exterior of the building doesn’t seem to incorporate the environment or context of the location very well, not to mention the fact that it kind-of looks like a cheap metal shed. Situated next to the old building, the two seem to fight with each other, visually and experientially. Perhaps museum administrators have future plans to bring the two buildings into a more cohesive, holistic kind of visitor experience. I hope so!

Autocomplete / Collaboration

Autocomplete: Untitled. A drawing by Kevin White and Danielle Foushée.

7.5 x 9.5 inches. Crayon, ink, and twine on matte board.

My friend from our days at Cranbrook, Maya Drozdz, invited me to be a part of a new exhibition she’s curating, called Autocomplete: A Collaborative Coloring Book Exhibition at Visionaries + Voices Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. The exhibition will be on view from May 10 to June 29, 2012.

The Visionaries + Voices Gallery provides artistic and cultural opportunities for artists with disabilities, and builds an inclusive environment where all artists feel valued. They value a world in which artists with disabilities not only create and share their works of art, but also are able to learn, work, collaborate, exhibit, teach, and celebrate with other community members.

I was given the black and white drawing you see above, created by artist Kevin White, and was asked to “complete” the piece. I added the color and the twine to finish it. I always love these kinds of works. What two artists create together is completely different from what each of them would’ve done alone.

Special thanks to Maya for including me in this project. It has been really fun to be a part of it!

New Blue Paintings

Vishuddha #11, Ink on Paper, 6x6 inches. 2012.

I just finished a new series of blue and purple paintings. There are 22 of them.

Vishuddha #3, 6, 7, 10, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22.

Ink on paper, 6x6 inches (each), 2012.

My sankalpa (intention) for 2012 is to focus on the idea of integrity—living from my own truth, and from the inside out. After my thyroid cancer diagnosis last fall, I’ve been thinking a lot about the throat chakra and it’s energetic implications on my life. Vishuddha Chakra is generally represented by the color blue. 

To honor my body and my intention this year, I’m focusing on becoming a better communicator. As part of my studies and spiritual practice, I’ve taken on a course in life coaching, which I think will give me skills to become a better speaker and especially a better listener.

Vishuddha #19, Ink on Paper, 6x6 inches. 2012.

I hope I will be able to deepen my personal relationships, improve my own life and the lives of people around me. I’m also looking forward to grounding my art-making work in the ideas that evolve from these explorations. 

I’m giving one of these little guys to each of my classmates in my Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction class at Swedish Hospital in Seattle. I hope it will be a happy little reminder to everyone of what a great experience we had supporting each other together. 

Maybe it will also help keep us on task with staying in the present moment, where everything is always as it should be.

A Yellow Landscape

This new painting I’m working on reminds me of the birds-eye view of Utah I used to get when I would fly back and forth from Los Angeles to Colorado. The land and rock formations are so graphic from above. They signal both stability and change simultaneously. These are concepts that seem to permeate the human condition—at least mine, anyway.

My Paintings at Home in Los Angeles

Late last year I was commissioned by Umesh Vaghjiani, uber-talented interior designer and owner of Inbox Designs in Los Angeles, to create two new paintings for his client's new bedroom. I was honored to produce the two works you see pictured above the bed in this photo.

I think the room is gorgeous!

It is so gratifying to know that my work is bringing joy to the homeowner each time he enters the sanctuary of his new bedroom.

Thank you, Umesh, for giving me the opportunity to collaborate with you on this project. It was such a pleasure to create these pieces for you and your client!

See the paintings up close here.

I Dreamt of Things: The Oracle

I dreamt I went to see The Oracle. I stood in her kitchen waiting for her sage advice. When she turned to speak to me, her hair stood on end, her fangs came out, and she snarled and growled at me.

Handmade Typography Underway

I’m working on a new poster for FIDM's summer scholarship promotion. I’m already excited about the direction it’s going! I’m planning to focus on ideas of authenticity/artificiality, natural/unnatural, handmade/digital.

This is a hint, more to come in a few weeks... I have lots of handwork to do in the meantime!

Logotype Concepts for FIDM

I’m working on a new logotype for a program offered by FIDM to help it’s faculty keep their skills up to date. These are three options I’ve come up with so far.

 

I like this purple one the best so far. I can see ways that it can be expanded into a whole system of logotypes for various sub-programs within the FIDM brand.

Peacefulness: My 2011 Sankalpa

Ice Lake in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado is 

my peaceful place. It is where I go in my mind 

whenever I want to feel comfy and free!

01/20/12: An updated version of this article is published for the yoga/spirit/health community at ElephantJournal.com.

Each year, I choose an intention (sankalpa) to focus on. It’s like a new year’s resolution, except there are no specific goals—only an idea or thought that I bring into awareness for the year. I spend the year studying my intention to see how it affects my life and attempt to cultivate more of it. (You can see my past blog entries about sankalpa here.)

2011 was my seventh year doing a sankalpa practice, and this year I focused on peacefulness. There has been a lot of change and upheaval in my life this year, so focusing on peacefulness has been a challenging but worthwhile endeavor.

For some reason my exploration of peacefulness in 2011 brought up a lot of issues about another quality: passion. American culture tells us to “live your passion” and “follow your passion” to find fulfillment and happiness in this life. But after much reflection, I think passion is too strong a word; it doesn’t seem to be a truly positive quality to embrace, especially as an entire culture.

Passion implies a loss of control, a kind of tunnel vision where all the factors of a situation may not be considered. It connotes greed, irrational behavior, and unconcern for consequences of one’s actions—perhaps it’s where the phrase “crime of passion” originated. After considering the prism of passion from many different angles, I realized that at least for me, passion and peace are mutually exclusive.

Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things that I don’t care about deeply — family, friends, healthy lifestyles, social justice, creativity, community, yoga, learning, and teaching, the environment, etc.

But passion cannot exist where peacefulness lives.

Passion says that where we are now isn’t good enough or right enough, and we have to keep searching outside ourselves to find self-worth and fulfillment. Passion looks too much into the past and future to the detriment of awareness of the present moment, where true living takes place.

As my sankalpa for 2011 winds down, I have decided to stop living with passion as a value. I would rather have peacefulness in my life than passion. I realized this when I began to describe to a friend how I knew that Matt was “the one”. I told her that unlike other boyfriends, I never felt that crazy teenager feeling of being out of control in my infatuation. When I was/am with Matt, I feel peaceful. I feel a sense of being “home”. I like this feeling of belonging and acceptance. So, choosing Matt was the first of many choices that have prioritized peace over passion over the past 9 years. I will continue to choose peace, because that is where happiness and fulfillment truly reside.

New Small Works

 Untitled Diptych. 18 x 8 inches. Ink and pastel on paper. 2011.

I just finished pulling together about 50 new small works for a small solo show that’s coming up at Grand Junction City Hall in Colorado. I’ll be posting many of them in the days to come... Here are the first two!

Untitled Quad. 16.5 x 16.5 inches. Ink on paper. 2011.

I’ve been in an introspective mood over the last several months, so it seems fitting that my work has shifted back to the smaller format. Most of them are even smaller than this, some even as small as 4 x 4 inches.

Stay tuned for more to come!