IF-Creature

I know it's Halloween this week and illustrating the word creature
should maybe be a monster of some sort but it's just not my thing..
So here's a sweet creature in a magical environment.
It's done with gouache, acrylic, collage and metallic paint.

IF-Talent

Last fall I was in the yard with my 3 year old nephew Ren.
He had just discovered that he could blow bubbles. He was
so delighted each time it worked. And if the bubble came out
big, there were squeals of laughter. What a talent!

Computer Migraine Damage

This morning I woke up to a totally obvious but yet ah-ha moment
for me. I suffer from migraines, not just sometimes but chronic ones,
and I have tried just about everything to help me combat them.
Medication, meditation, acupuncture, food restrictions, so far nothing
really works. But this morning I had a thought that staring at the
computer screen all day has got to be doing major damage in my already
messed up migraine head.
So starting today I'm going on a week long test, Just 45 minutes in the
morning and again in the evening do do my business.
Addict that I am, this will be hard, but I've given up chocolate and
caffeine too with no dire effects.
I did say a few weeks ago I would start doing more digital drawings..
That's on hold for now, I'm actually looking forward to the possibilities
the opened time will bring. I'm sure I waste a lot on the screen.
Any tips on breaking away from the computer?

Peace and Glow

I hope the the New Year brings Peace and Happiness and Health
to everyone.

IF-Whiskers

Today is the last time I want to talk about my migraines.
I'm totally sick of them already in so many ways.. The
huge problem though is that they have created a wall that is
so hard to break through.. Even when I feel ok my brain
still feels like mush. My goal is to figure out how to re access
that happy creative magical place, even if I have down days.
Sometimes it's just about starting that's so hard.. there are just
so many choices. I started reading Annie Lamott's  wonderful
book Bird by Bird. It's about writing and life but I think it
works just as well for art and drawing and painting and ideas
and life. I'm inspired to just go little by little, bird by bird, and
just restart. So here is a bunch of drawings of animals with
whiskers, then I pulled the one that spoke to me the most
and painted her up. The 2 pages are the start of my sketchbook
project 2013.

IF-Sky

I wanted to try something very simple for the word
sky. Just light, shadow and color. I continued with
the 1 hour limit, I did the 2 images attached here
within that time, side by side. There are actually many
layers painted here, as I didn't like what was happening
much of the time, it got to fussy. It took much much
longer to dry than to paint......

Breaking Old Habits

Sometimes it' is so difficult to step out of the the habits
you've set for yourself. It's easier to just stick with what
you've been doing rather than take even the small step
to try something new which may bring you to a whole
new place.
I've been painting small for a long time and just the simple
step of getting out big paper seemed like an insurmountable
problem. I thought about how for a long time, months really..
I didn't know what to paint, I didn't know what colors, I
had so many excuses..

I finally decided to pare down the issue to the basics,
I picked the paper I would use and laid it out. I gave
myself the directive of just black or white paint, big
paintbrushes, and 15 minutes a day on the timer. I went
outside and chose a few lingering plants from the garden
and made sure all of my supplies were ready to go.I put
the plan into my calendar so I had no choice.

This process of breaking it down for me was so great.. I'm
planning on continuing these for these for a while until I'm
ready to add more to the directive. The goal is to loosen up
and play more but having the boundaries makes it so much easier.

IF-Water

 I try to give myself the challenge of just 1 hour
on the Illustration Friday drawings or else I get
too stressed out..not enough time.. I think I spent
a little longer on this one..It was a challenge, trying
to catch the transparencies and water qualities.
It's a challenge worth trying again..

IF-Mirror

This is a sketch from a project I am working on.
A little girl looking in the the mirror trying to discover
who she really is. I enjoy reflection drawings and over

time I've done many of them..

This one "Trying on Glasses" was done for the
author Geneen Roth, for the video promotion for
her book  "Lost and Found" 

IF-Book

This is a little glimpse into my studio, a much neater version... My
reference books are all very close to me. I have many shelves of
books scattered all over here, but I keep my favorite ones at the
moment close by, I change them all the time..













Right now a few of them are: a book from the great Swedish designer
Olle Eskell. I first saw his work when I was in Japan, A funky little store
had a show with his drawings and I was hooked. Here is the link to the book.


























I always love to look at Maira Kalman, I started reading every one
of her children's books to my son when he was a kid, now I adore
all her books, the illustrations and the stories about people and places.
So inspiring! I visited her show at the Jewish Museum in NY three
times last year when it was up.

A third book I always reach for is a book of a Japanese applique
artist, Ayako Miyawaki. I was handed down this book, I am so
lucky since now that I've looked around it doesn't seem easy to find.
Her work has a calm simplicity but with pattern and movement and
texture. I find it so beautiful.

A Special Connection

A good friend had a milestone birthday yesterday, and I wanted
to paint something special for her. This is Yogi, sitting in his regular
spot on the couch. Hope is an Art dealer and art appraiser of museum
quality work, so really, this was a daunting task...but challenging and
fun. Yesterday afternoon Yogi brushed up against me and I got this
weird feeling that we had a special connection, he had no idea, but
it was a very cool one way zing.
I've been thinking about taking one object and painting it over and
over every day for a month, to get to know it as well as I can.
When I was at RISD a professor gave out that assignment (it
wasn't to my class though) and a person in the class painted her
jeans everyday for a month. She said it was life changing...the way
she learned to observe... I never forgot that.
Any suggestions on what  I should paint/draw?

IF-Messenger

A wish to all:
Have a wonderful, healthy, peaceful and happy New Year!

Sonoma Paintings

When I got back from my Sonoma weekend, I started some
oils on paper, these are just quick sketches, from photos, but
also from my memory and feelings of the place. I'm going to
have much learning to really capture the beauty but this is
a great exercise and makes happy. There are many more
on the drawing board.

IF-Scary

From The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. Scary reading
for Halloween.

IF-Fuel

I'm really more of a veggie gal, but when it came down to
the type of foods I felt like painting this afternoon to
depict "fuel", that junk food popped right into my mind!
The pear is thrown in for good measure. And I guess the
pink drink could be a nice healthy smoothie or one of
those fluorescent drinks from 7-11....!
Either way, you need food to keep going.....

IF-Mesmerizing

So, This happens.... Especially for my teenage son.
We started using the Pomodoro Technique to help
break away. Set a timer for 25 minutes and do only
the task at hand during that time.. then time a 10 minute
break. Keep going that way until the work is done...
It really helps to keep the focus on your work
and not all the other fluff.

IF-Boundaries

My post today is about something I don't usually write about.
I get terrible, horrible chronic migraines, every few days. The
kind that stop me in my tracks, block my brain, bring everything
to a halt. Last night when I couldn't sleep because the pain was
too much, the image for boundaries just came to me. It's my
brain, my migraine. I don't get colors, they have no shape. It's just
a big square thick thing filled with muck that I can't get out of.
The clarity is outside the box. All I want is to be out there but it's so
rare to have days that are completely clear and light. What it
would mean to me would be that I would have consecutive days
of creativity, I would get where I wanted to be, I wouldn't be
knocked down constantly.
I started thinking about people who have other diseases. My
mother in law had a stroke 7 years ago, and is now stuck
in a wheel chair, paralyzed on 1/2 her body, but she is so positive
and living a full life. It's encouraging.
I'm optimistic I'll get through this. Not with Doctors anymore.
No luck with them, but with natural remedies, dietary changes
acupuncture. I'm going to get over this.

Collage and Resin Necklaces

I've been taking a journey experimenting with collage and resin,
on wood panels but also in some jewelry pieces. I love playing with
the shine and textures and colors, when the resin hits the paper, it
blends the colors together, to create something a little
different than what I expected.
I love that randomness.
I'm making these long, about 29-30" chains. They are fun all layered up.
I will start putting them in my shop later this week.