Northcoast Land Trust Grand Opening

The Northcoast Regional Land Trust invited a bunch of us Plein Aire artists to flood the land and paint it up!
I didn't take enough pictures, all the other artists were very cool, but here are a few of the things I created while there:

native willow trees that can be used to grow more elsewhere

I'll have to go back again to finish this one :)

 everybody loves a dandelion

Michelle's Yoni Tree

This painting is dedicated to Michelle Hel-Loki Angelina, and her struggle as an incarcerated transgendered woman.  Over the many months of our correspondence, she has become a dear friend, and has opened my eyes to the cultural systems that led to her incarceration and the challenges to her rights as a human while in the American prison system.

50% of proceeds from the sale of this painting will be donated to a Non-Profit organization working towards justice for Transgendered people, currently I am thinking about The Transgender Law Center.  

Happy New Year

Already 6 deep into the New Year.

PFCM 2015

What an amazing 2 weeks at Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival this year. It is so inspiring to be surrounded by musicians--watching their process (chamber music is the ultimate collaboration!) and living in a house full of artistic energy and professionalism. 

I started with kind of a discomfort in my gut, though. Not really sure what my purpose was at the festival. Andy was only coming for a weekend this year, and I knew collaborating with him wasn't really what I should be doing (for myself, as an artist) anyway. I just sat with the discomfort and anxiety for a few days, and eventually it clicked. I had been thinking I should try to make some "merch" -- something sale-able for the festival to use for fundraising. It seems obvious in hind-sight, but it was painful to discover. I decided to make a poster. Something beautiful and striking and bringing in the element of the name-sake falls.

Trouble is, by the time I figured this out it was 3 days before the first performance, and only 2 business days if I wanted to have them printed. Luckily our supportive printers, Express Copy in Manchester could turn around the prints in one business day. So I scurried off to the falls to sketch.

It'd been a particularly hot week, and the falls were PACKED with tourist families. This is always a bummer when we are used to this being a quiet retreat to nature, where you lose your sense of humanity all together, and feel one with the rushing water. As I approached the top, I heard kids saying "eww" "gross" "he's naked" and saw the familiar elder 'naked guy' that enjoys a daily dip in the falls, and likely has for decades, maybe his family has for generations like Su's has. I appreciate that he exercises his right (thanks Vermont for keeping it legal!), so when this dad started saying "outrageous. with all these kids around..." I decided I needed to do my part too. So I took off my clothes, and started sketching. 

The nice thing, was that because we were naked, the families avoided coming up to the top, and he and I had the whole top of the falls to ourselves. The sound of the water mostly washed out their obnoxious voices and I sketched in peace for 3 hours.  Eventually some teens who didn't care that we were naked came and shared it with us and ...it was lovely. 

Sitting there naked, perched on a rock I realized...it's HARD to draw organic things. rocks. moving water. sheesh.  but I just kept at it, and despite feeling kind of overwhelmed and discouraged, at some point I looked down and saw that I was actually doing something! There was a graphic pattern evolving in my representation of the water that I rather liked. 

So I went home (to my house-full of musicians) and started figuring out how to make it into a poster. 

I was hoping to turn it into a linoleum cut to print my own limited edition of posters, but the closest art supply store (over an hour away) didn't end up carrying linoleum so I bought a stencil kit. Unfortunately, when I got it home and started cutting and painting, I quickly realized this was not gonna work. So--without time to have the supplies I needed shipped, I decided to just go ahead and paint it by hand. (I guess this was actually the point that I determined how quickly Express Copy could turn the print around) 

So...2 nights with 4 hours of sleep later, this is the image that I came up with. I have to say, I'm quite proud of it. I was channeling the beautifully retro National Park posters of recent years.

We did a limited edition of 40 prints, which I signed and numbered. 

I felt like I had carved out some kind of purpose for my "residency" and relaxed through the first weekend of the festival.

I decided that for the second week I would just focus on creating a body of landscapes to display the final weekend. I don't think that such a short period of creation is ideal. And in the future, my goal will be to bring a body of completed works to the festival, but this was what I accomplished in 2015. 

I made each of these on site, as I have been practicing lately. And I used a new medium- cassein- which was interesting. Its very matte. and a bit more blendable than acrylic. I'm not sure that I'll continue using it, I'm still searching for my ideal medium. But it was a great chance to experiment with a new medium.

I displayed 8 paintings for the final weekend's performance. Sold 4 of them and gave the rest away. Made some people very happy to have a one of a kind momento from the festival. Yay. Art.

Pikes Falls

at the Loewy cabin

and at the falls. 

lovely 3 day respite before the festival formally begins. not sure what i'm going to do as "artist in residence" this year, but i'm thinking I will focus on social media and creating some sale-able landscapes...

OH! and I;m trying out a new medium. Cassein.  it's matte and water soluble and...there will be a learning curve. These are my first two attempts. 

Tall Trees - 13

A proper back-packed plein aire.

 

Circles UPDATE! 3-12

I didn't realize I had been slacking on keeping this blog up to date. I've been busy getting a series going.

Since May I've been doing quick Plein Aire sketches. I've got 12 now.
Most (my favorites) are of the Arcata Community Forest. I've done a few of other places, but the forest is my favorite. I love the magical, mystical feeling of my (un)natural color palette's interpretation of a forest.

As of last week I even posted an Etsy shop. 
Truth be told, the intention of this series is to $ell. But it's also amazingly fun and satisfying.
The goal is to fill up a cafe by fall.

I'm still struggling with how to mount them. I don't want to use embroidery hoops, since thats how I make them...

For now, I'll just updating the posting.

for Alice

on a camping trip with Jax. a fleeting splash of sun on a near branch. gone in 15 minutes.

weekly # 2 - Community Forrest

after 15 minutes

after 45

Weekly #1. Arcata Community Forrest

Hiked about...an hour? maybe through the Arcata forrest. Was on the western edge and think I crossed into the private territory and was following logging paths.  Anyway, settled into this mushroom scene just in time to get about 30 minutes in before it started raining. Then hiked around another hour or more exploring the woods. Just when I thought I might be really lost, I stumbled onto a frisbee golf course! Not lost. Lol.

Muddy boots and good feelings.  Here's to a paintings every week!

For mom