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Summer time and getting in the studio has not been easy for me!  I know- there should be no excuses for not getting in the studio BUT in the summer with a 40 hour a week day job; 18 employees that I supervise, living in a tourist town that gets over 3 million visitors in 3 months and with the thought of an icy cold, wind blasted winter lying ahead & wanting to grab all of the gusto of our short summer that I can, I just haven’t been in the studio the last 3 weeks. Normally I beat myself up for this but I’ve decided to not feel guilty for taking a few mountain hikes, gardening, reading in the sun, going to the opera, sitting out on the porch etc. on my days off instead of heading into the studio! I did, however, go through a major clean up/purge 2 weeks ago so, it is all ready for me when I do get back to it. AND I am feeling the urge- the foliage is just starting to turn & there is a crispness to the air - summer is winding down & so is the stress of my day job. While walking beside a mountain stream last week I was blessed with a visit from my muse and several exciting painting ideas came to me- so next Tuesday I’ll be there!

I did finish my “Seeking Balance” painting a few weeks ago & I am very happy with it!! I feel like it is a “turning point” painting for me. Turning point because I allowed myself to paint more intuitively than I normally do and with the really saturated colors that I love. Plus it expresses what I seek most in the summer time-the tug of war for balance. Do I want to go in the studio or hike? Be with loved ones after an 8 hour day with hundreds of customers or be in solitude? Anyway,  here it is:

I have several rituals that I like to practice to help me become present in the now when working in my sacred space, the studio. The first thing I do is bow to my space, acknowledging that I am grateful to be there.I usually bow toward my studio muse to remind myself that I am there to express my inner process and to allow whatever images, colors, textures, narrative that comes up to unfold even if - I should say especially if- it is not part of my original plan.  I learned this practice of bowing to the studio space from Sue Hammond West  when I took a painting class from her at Naropa.

The next thing I do is tie on one of my aprons. I have 2 aprons that I inherited from my paternal grandmother, Gammer. Gammer and I share the same birth date: October 4th and I feel that her creative genes flow through me.Gammer expressed her creativity through knitting beautiful sweaters, growing beautiful flowers, fixing wonderful food- especially breads and cookies, and keeping a beautiful house. I honor her memory by wearing one of her aprons while creating. When she died I created a Day of the Dead Box for her- I depicted her making bread with her pink apron on.

Gammer’s pink apron is so famous, in fact, that an artist friend of mine , Nancy Mullen, painted an oil pastel of it one year for my birthday.

I also picked up a couple aprons in Oaxaca, Mexico last fall to wear in the studio, when Joe & I were there for a Michael deMeng workshop during the Day of the Dead. (he is doing it again this year- it is a blast- check it out!) As a tangent, my “Day of the Dead Shrine” -made from a cigar box & found objects-honors the death of my childhood, maidenhood & “hands on” motherhood phases of life while celebrating all that is yet to come. I put a skeleton in the bottom of the cigar box shrine with photos of those “dead” phases and a celebatory figure “on top of the world” on the top. I fell in love with the embroidered aprons that are traditional wear for some of the older women & wanted to buy some…so, Joe & I asked a friend the spanish name for aprons & thought we heard “bandelero” (which actually means outlaws or bandits). We didn’t know the word for “to cook” but we knew the word for “to eat”- comer- so we went around asking where the bandelero’s were for sale that we could eat. You can imagine the looks we got! We found out later the name for apron is mandil or mandilero.  (close enough-right?) The locals took pity on us & eventually with much hand gestures & pointing we did find a lovely selection of aprons in the Abasto (supply market).

When I reach a good stopping point, I wash my brushes, put away my paints & sit across from my painting & just look at it. I start to see all the changes I want to make & pretty soon my painting is covered in sticky notes with my ideas for change until the next painting session.

            While in Santa Fe with my interns we visited quite a few contemporary galleries. We went into the James Kelly Gallery  in the Railyard District, across from SITE Santa Fe. There was a show by Roy McMakin- isn’t that a great artist’s name? mc makin…ART. Here is one of his pieces

            I have to admit that I don’t really understand this type of art- yes, it draws our attention to the beauty of everyday objects and upon closer examination the anthropomorphic characteristics of the WHITE drawer does draw the viewer inward but for $35,000.00 I would like it to strike an emotional chord within me. I am stimulated & intrigued & even fall in love with art that resonates with me in some way. Once again Meaning Shapes Seeing – see my blog of  July 7, 2008. My litmus test is art that makes my heart pound a little faster with a response to it- it can be of despair like Picasso’s “Guernica”; or joy with one of Mary Cassatt’s mother & child pieces; or delight in the capture of light with Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series; or intrigue with Jean Michel Basquait’s images; or love for the beauty of the mountains with one of Clyde Aspevig’s paintings; or fascination with the disturbing figures of Jenny Saville; or an appreciation for the technical virtuosity of Raphael… so I get confused when I see a piece like the dresser. Do people love it? Buy it? Want to live with it? What about you? What resonates for you?

Thank you sooooo much Sadie!!! I have to say that I am thrilled when a piece of my art work resonates with a viewer because it creates connection- I know I am not alone in feeling the way I feel about an in my experience in life.

Folk Art has always influenced my paintings- both the saturated colors and narrative quality. In Santa Fe we went to the 5^th International Folk Art Market held on Museum Hill near my favorite museum in the whole world, the Museum of International Folk Art. Here’s a picture I took inside the museum of my favorite exhibit: Heaven, Purgatory & Hell. The figures were collected from all over the world.

This year there were more than 100 artists & translators from 26 different countries. The Folk Art Market fosters sustainability for folk artists, their art and their communities. The artists are juried in by folk art curators, collectors & experts. While here the artists learn how to promote their work to shoppers, collectors and trade buyers while sharing the art traditions of their cultures.

I was excited to see the work of a scroll painter who lives in West Bengal, India where the tradition of scroll painting goes back to the 13^th century. I bought these 2 small paintings from him.

Another piece that I bought was a beautiful terra cotta sculpture of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge, from Dolon Kundu of India.

Saraswati is the the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music & the arts. Her 4 arms represent the 4 aspects of human learning: the mind, intellect, alertness & ego. A white swan is often located near her feet. The swan symbolizes discrimination between the good & the bad, the eternal & the transitory. A prayer to Saraswati would ask: “May you fully remove my lethargy, sluggishness & ignorance.” Her favorite fruit is the apple- interesting since Eve was eternally damned for eating an apple. Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge so that her eyes would be opened & she would be one with the gods, knowing good from evil. It’s always bothered me that she was condemned for that…I did a painting of this subject a couple years ago: In my interpretation, Eve has become one with the gods, if you listen carefully you will hear her and when the time is ripe (the apple) that knowledge will fall into your receiving arms.

 Last week I took my 2 Art & Culture Interns, who are from Hungary, on an art exploration trip to Santa Fe. We turned off of I-25 at Walsenburg onto the “Highway of Legends”, arrived at Fort Garland in time for lunch where we perused a local paper that promoted the pleasures of visiting a local ALLIGATOR Farm in Southern COLORADO of all places!! It is located near the UFO viewing platform- of course! I immediately put them on my list of places I MUST visit in the near future.

After lunch we turned south and visited the Taos Pueblo, which has been continuously occupied for more than 1000 years. It is so beautiful with the stacked adobe structures and blue doors.

After walking around the pueblo we stopped in at the famous Saint Francis Church located in Rancho de Taos. This is the church that Georgia O’Keefe painted and Ansel Adams photographed. (We happened to catch a show that has both works of art at the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe.) There is a “miracle” painting in the parish hall across the road from the church. It is an almost life size painting of Jesus standing, with the Sea of Galilee behind him. When the lights are turned off the background of the painting glows & the figure of Jesus becomes a black silhouette holding a large cross. One intern suggested that there was a light directly behind the painting which caused the glow- so after everyone left the room, we carefully pulled the curtain that went right up to the painting, aside- and there was NO light! I love miracles!! (I’ve been lucky enough to see several miracle pieces- in March, in Mexico City, Joe & I got to see the cape of Juan Diego’s that had the Virgen de Guadalupe’s image miraculously imprinted on it.)

On Friday in Santa Fe we had the pleasure of visiting galleries on Canyon Road- one of my favorites is the Turner Carroll Gallery, http://www.turnercarroll.com/FMPro where paintings by Hung Lin was featured. She uses colorful, mostly Chinese figurative images and symbols along with a variety of textures painted on layers of resin to create depth and visual interest.

Last fall I started a painting that I glued fall leaves on & scraps of silk that were painted in fall colors & poured a layer of resin over it- I am inspired now to paint on it, building up layers and adding a postcard. The theme that fall inspires for me is:”when you think it is the end, it is only the beginning.”  I think of different “endings” in my life that led to new beginnings- graduating from high school, leaving my home & family & going off to college where I fell in love with art among other things; graduating from college & moving to Colorado & falling in love with the outdoors; falling in love, having children & loving being a mom then discovering so much about myself when they flew the nest & I lived on my own for the first time ever. What about you? What were some of your endings that were really beginnings? Here is a picture of the beginning stages of this painting- I’ll post another photo when I get to the end.

This is a painting I am currently working on- it is called “Searching for Balance, the Tug of War of Life”. I am always seeking balance in my life so that I feel centered, grounded, present in the NOW. (plus I am a Libra- I know its a flaky artist thing to say but I do feel like I AM a Libra ☺) There are the “have to’s” in life, which I enjoy for the most part, like shopping for groceries, paying the bills, keeping my house semi-clean, doing the laundry, pulling the weeds and the “want to’s” like painting, hanging out with loved ones, reading, traveling and there is the “sometimes a ‘have to’ & some times a ‘want to’ things” like exercising, walking the dog, my day job, preparing & eating good food, sleeping, keeping in touch- anyway… all of those things create a pull me, push me situation. Sometimes I feel pulled in 2 different directions- thus a two headed woman being pulled down the same road butone is day & one is night.

Above the postcards I’ve scratched words into the surface for some of the “have to’s” , “want to’s” and the “some times one or the other” things. As I am writting this- something I wanted to do- I had the choice of coming home & doing this & spending some quiet time getting ready for my trip to Santa Fe tomorrow or going to the rodeo- both things I really wanted to do- ahhhhh that the tug of war effect.

I love the orange circles in the air- I was intuitively drawn to put them there- then my boyfriend, Joe commented that he thought they were balls that she is trying to juggle, keep in the air. hmm? I’m thinking I’ll add one “ball” on her left side now & maybe make one of the mountains into a volcano because some times that’s the way life feels when it is out of balance. Why the fish & bird feet? Because seeking balance is neither fish nor fowl, dark or light- it is choosing what is right for that moment in time.

Did I mention I’m going to Santa Fe tomorrow? I love Santa Fe & am really excited to be going to the International Folk Art Fair for the first time. There will be a narrative scroll painter from India. Scroll painters have been traveling from village to village since at least the 13th century singing their own compositions while unwinding painted scrolls on sacred & secular themes. I am looking forward to seeing what contemporary themes are being portrayed. I will take lots of pictures and post them when i get back.

I am often asked about the vintage postcards that I use- where do they come from is a popular question. It all comes down to meaning shapes seeing. At one point in time I was completely unaware of vintage postcards- I never noticed them at garage sales, flea markets or antique stores- as a tangent, a friend of mine collects rocks that look like hearts- I have never noticed those either but now that I am looking for them to give to her I see them almost every time I take a walk. Isn’t it interesting that until something has meaning for us we often don’t see it?

A couple of weeks ago my Mom & I went to Central City to see the opera “The Rape of Lucretia” -so sad!- but of course with a title like that it wasn’t a surprise and one of the things I LOVE about opera is all of the drama.

We popped in to an antique store down the street from the Opera House. (I love the buildings in this town, remnants of its glory days as a prosperous gold mining town. If I ever won a billion dollars I would love to turn this town into a destination place for galleries, fine dining and antique stores. It’s currently a legalized gambling town with a summer opera series)

I was drawn to a glass case that held a fake alligator skin, falling apart Postcard Album. We had about 20 minutes before the opera started so I quickly glanced through the album- it held over 100 postcards- and I decided that there were at least 20 that I would be able to use at some point. Mostly I look for landscapes, trains, boats, cars, roads, bridges & beauties- my favorites being night scenes. This album had a lot of greeting type cards but for $49.00 and with 20 or so useful-to me- postcards I was thrilled to have found it! I’ll let you know when I use a postcard from this find.