LA

LA

Girl

One of my favorite subjects.  

Girl

Personal Post Modern

Everything that's old is new again...

Call Box

Old paintings made new, with my newest obsession... stripe and dots.

FALL OPEN STUDIOS

 Fall Open Studios 

1890 Bryant Street @ Mariposa

100 Artists 

1 Building

FRIDAY PREVIEW November 4, 6pm-9pm

Saturday and Sunday, November 5 and 6, 11am-5pm

Come on by.  I will be hanging out on the 3rd floor, studio 317. 

Life is But a Dream

This was one of the faster ones, less than a year.  

Kitea Birthday

I am really into these stripes.

It is funny to me because I avoided a lot color for so long.  I was/am so enamored with Giorgio Morandi that I wouldn't allow myself to indulge.  

I am swinging completely the other direction now.  I am quite color drunk.

Final "Cat Girl"

This painting was inspired by Makiko's Birthday at the cat tea lounge called Kitea in Hayes Valley.  You can go and spend an hour with cats.

Day Dream Number 3

Tom named this one.  I still have to work on numbers 1 and 2.  

Whew, it was a battle.  Final, something new

It started as a straight forward composition from a dinner party.  Which is what I named it "The Dinner Party". But now it is changed and is included in the "Stream of Consciousness" series.  

Early version...  What the heck?..  See Tom's legs?  Is that an inner-tube?

Still floundering around. It got to be a free for all.

Rainbow Girls

I am still into Maslow.  I think I have always have been preoccupied with what we need to be happy.

Last Lanai painting started in 2014

This was a funny version.  I shored up all the edges for a  while.

I am really into Squeak.  Can you tell?

At this point I wrapped it in cling wrap and stuck it in Tom's suitcase so I could finish it at home.

Rainbow Girls appeared.  I almost called them, "Golden Girls" I love that Betty White.

Voila!

Dos

Here is another two year painting.  I started this in 2014.  

It is started in Lanai with images of Lanai.  I haven't touched it in about a year.  I finally finished it.  

It is one of those elusive woven collage paintings.  The mom and Makiko painting, two posts ago, has taught me a lot about how the woven collage is structured.

I started with this

I added these cute Frenchies

I started weaving in patterns and objects.

Here is the finished painting.  It all came together quickly, two years plus 30-35 hours.

Golden

I started this two years ago in Hawaii.  It was just the bird for the longest time.  I struggled.  This time I made it into a part of the collage series and it all clicked into place.

Mom and Makiko

This painting took over a year.  I had to walk away for a long while.  It was not working.  It is one of those collage paintings that I find hard to resolve.  But I had an inspiration about the sky, night time and with birds flying.  Then everything else melded and knit itself together.  Whew!

Cocktail Hour

Open studios this Friday night and all weekend.  Stop by for a cocktail or some cheese!  Stand still long enough and you could end up in a painting.  

 Stand still long enough and you could end up in a painting.

Play

Loose as a goose

SPRING Open Studios

Open Studios 

Sneak Peek  Friday April 15, 6:00-9:00pm

Saturday and Sunday April 16-17 Noon-6:00pm

Final

Trying to Raise Bonnard

I was in Lanai again.  Freezing my a_ _ off.  It was rainy and cold, without heat.

Sketchy water color look

Sorry for all the reflection.

Lots of right angles.

Green Feet

This is embarrassing. Sorry to those of you that were kind enough to leave comments over the past 5 years I've been blogging.  I just found a bunch that were unanswered by me.  I thought Blogger would send me an email.  They used to... but they don't anymore.  Oh well. 

Even more shocking, I found I had a bitter commenter.  An "Evangelical Keyboardist" reader, sending me sarcastic hate comments!  

I deleted them.  I think.  

"Green Feet"

 Ok, I admit the figure in this painting, (Makiko) has crazy expressive coloring.  Green feet is probably the least of them.

Tom used to be in this painting too.  There was an abstract painting under this one, that can be seen faintly in person.

I messed up Elmo's face.  His eyes look so human.

I wiped him out about 4 times!

Better

Back to Sleeping During the Day

In the last period of my life that I had time to paint deeply or obsessively, I would often paint a favorite image over and over. There would be something different that  I was chasing in each iteration.  

This was one of the last images that I really painted a lot.

My life was starkly different then. I was serially single and childless. Can you tell? 

"Pedestrian" 36"x45" (1998)

In this new period (the last six years) I have not really indulged going deep with an image.  I have been pretty much been careening through a bunch of different subjects, techniques and genres, like a drunken maniac. My dog is perhaps the only repeating theme. 

I think, however, that I am starting the serial thing again. Using an old title, "Sleeping During the Day."  The first one of that title was painted in 1990. It was tiny, maybe 12"x12". Someone... probably me, sleeping under a bright square of window.  I think I have a slide somewhere. The painting is now in the Swig Collection.  

Here is the new version with my daughter and of course my dog.  I have only painted this version twice, but who knows how many iterations I can come up with.  I am a fount for making up problems to tackle in painting.  

Finished with yellowish star.  Whole thing measures maybe 24"x30"

Earlier with a red star.

First one of M and E.  This one is big and tight, 3'x5.'  I liked the intimate scene painted in a non-intimate size.

Pardon me, but I shot these with my phone.  The last couple of posts I had Cera Hensley photograph my stuff.  What a world of difference.  

MBK and Elmo or... Debbie and Billy?

I was gifted a bunch of canvases from our friends Debbie and Billy.  I think they were unused signs for their wedding.  They have been married for years and are expecting their second child.  So, through a konmaring impulse and need to make room for the new nugget, I got some really high quality canvases.  Most of the canvases were blank, but this one had an interesting ground for layering. 

Here is the finished version.  Elmo is in sharp focus.  The bag is a drawing.  The window is a an abstraction.  You can still sorta see "Debbie" in it.  The floor is doing this undulating movement... bonus!

Early sketch

Husband really likes this version.  

Almost finished.  Carpet appears to be trying to slide off the canvas!

Everyday Company

I was gifted some canvases from my friends Debbie and Billy.  It is fun to find the composition for this unusual format.  I like the tension of the two of them facing away from each other. 

"Everyday Company" 36"x24"

Here is the preliminary sketch.  The couch was a lot longer.

Happy New Year!

Whew, we made it through the holidays, yay!

I managed to finish a few things!  Here is the second to last painting from what I am calling the "Rug Series.  

So far I am calling this one "Sunday Afternoon".

"Sunday Afternoon" 40"x30"  I really like the hands.

I drew it over an old painting.  

I really was trying to think of a way to save the bird. However, he had to go...