Mmmnnn...

Can you imagine a girl born and raised in Los Angeles tasting cherries picked from the tree for the first time? Let's just say I have not gotten over this delicious experience.

Here is my cute girlfriend at the U-pick. Notice hers is the almost full basket. I think I was eating too many to be a productive picker.
I'm not working in the studio much, it seems like the outdoors is calling when I'm not at work.
This weekend I'm taking the dogs to the coast for the 4th so poor Monty doesn't get completely terrified by the noises in town. I'm looking forward to my makeshift studio where I can look up and watch the waves.
Now, I think I will go eat a bunch of those cherries.

Quite a Day

I was so crabby yesterday.
It might have been cleaning the garage that pushed me over the edge.
I decided to start the day with painting, it took a while but by the end of my time I was in a pretty good mood. Above are works in progress.

Large

Finding words living in places odd and wonderful.

This word is embedded in the patio at WomanShare, my first Oregon home.
It seems to me to be a beautiful word
suggesting that being a big, full person and taking up space in the world is just fine.

And it might suggest that G and I have a large mess waiting for us in the garage, yuck and yikes. We are determined to make space to park the car!!!

Any ideas on finding the word Large in your life?

The Pea Green Painting Project

The man at the paint store asked: "are you sure you want this color?"

Well, maybe not at home, but it's a beach house, it needs to be bright and cheery and fun!
The paint is actually a lot more saturated in color and somewhat darker than here...

We think it looks great and maybe even worth all our painting aches and pains!
It's fun to transform an environment...

Happy Tuesday everyone, I went back to work today. It was fine except for the 400 emails waiting for me!

Dogs at the Coast

Simon got a poodle hairdo before our arrival at the coast house. He then seemed to prefer sitting in the pink chairs.

Happy greyhound on a sunny beach walk.

Amazing delicate greyhound legs...

Not Sure...

I thought I finished this painting, but now it feels as if it's not "quite there". I think it may be the eel, the eel needs to blend into the priest's arms in a more fluid way.
Comments and feedback totally appreciated.
Happy Birthday Dean!!!

Were We Gone Only 10 Minutes?

On the drive home I asked Ginger if it felt like we were gone from home about 10 minutes. She agreed that this week seemed to go by way too quickly. It included buying this 6 inch talking Smurf. You pull a string and he says things like "I'm only three apple pies". Well, I'm not sure exactly what he is saying, but what a way cool Smurf.

Then we became possessed by the idea of "re-doing" the dining room and kitchen. So here is G. carrying out everything so we could scrub the whole thing down (what an awful job) before painting. The good news is that we filled boxes for the neighborhood garage sale.

And in between we walked on the beach. The summer tides are so low, these are anemones buried in the sand. I could imagine K. taking their photo so I did too.

Low tide on the 804 trail, Yachats, Oregon. The dogs and I walk and marvel.
More photos to follow...

Home Soon!

Here we are at the Green Salmon in Yachats drinking coffee and avoiding packing up the coast house and coming home. It's been a great week. Photos and post tomorrow! 

Hope everyone has had a good week!

Bye for a week or so!

Off to the coast with an amazing amount of stuff, two dogs and a cat in the little car...

Hope everyone has a good week!

Paintings I Like

I like these paintings a lot. Below is the website for Camilla Engman, a Swedish artist. She has a great blog too. It's interesting looking at her studio and photos. Everything looks just a bit "off" in a way that makes me say: "why didn't I think of that?" It's so amazing to be able to look at art from someone in Sweden so easily.

http://www.camillaengman.com/paintings/paintings.htm

One more day of work and then G and I are on vacation for over a week. I can't wait. I'm gathering "stuff" to take to the coast. Like drawing materials? Collage materials? It's hard not to haul half the studio over there, but I must resist!

Ignoring Internal Messages

I am a bit in love with this man and his lone blue eye

She seems a bit more painterly than usual...

The more focused and productive I become the louder the internal opposition is.
The more I like what I am doing, the more the chorus says "that couldn't possibly be so, how would you know if it's good?".
Leading the pack is the voice who says: "Who do you think you are?"
When someone asks me "what kind of art do you make?" I do not know what to say. I have taken to calling my work illustration, because it's a place to latch onto.
I feel like I do belong in a place, and that is the place of the "outsider artist". These are artists who for the most part are apart from the art world. They make their work for joy, and in many cases in devotion to their God.
I know this is the right place for me because when I dwell there I feel no internal opposition to "making" and "working".
So when the voice says "Who do you think you are?" and I say honestly "I'm the person who draws and paints for the joy of it, I'm the person who will never color in the turtle to please the teacher, and I am the person who draws and paints for myself..." then things calm down, and I can get to work.

My Latest Inspiration

I'm working on a painting that will have a monk holding a moray eel.
Why? I'm thinking about creatures who look frightening and yet do not have that intent. Like eels and octopus.
And I'm thinking about Father Junipero Serra walking up and down the California coast founding missions and thinking he was doing something good. In the third grade I made a sculpture of Father Serra out of a detergent bottle. I dressed it and gave it a clay head and made him little glasses out of tape and wire. And Father Serra has been on my mind ever since.
One thing leads to another.
It's raining and it's so nice.
I have to go to work tomorrow and I only want to paint.
And if none of this makes sense... well that's ok, it's just how I go about being an artist.