Open Studios

Saturday and Sunday are open studios at the arsenal in Benicia.  I have posted this ad nauseam on facebook but my dear friend Robin doesn't do facebook (as some others might not too) so here is a shout out to all those who are unaware of this event.  It's from 10-5 both days, it's FREE, it's FUN, there is an art show, open studios from all of the artists, food and drink and entertainment, what else could you ask for??? PLUS, Daisy, Abby and this crazy hip chick will be there with bells on to greet you and give you a big hug.  The location is 946 Tyler St.  My hip chick phone is 707-747-5543.  I'm busy getting ready, buying straw, hanging pictures, tagging things, painting if possible and trying to get the place in ship shape order for ya.  Can't wait and really hope you can stop by.......

The Tao of the Tutu

 It was tutu madness this weekend!  I had no idea a tutu would bring such joy to so many people.  Just to recap last weekend Abby and I bought a red tutu, had a photo shoot and loved the pictures.  Being a girl who seeks out fun and adventure, I thought I'd better pack all the tutu's I could to go to Carmel Valley for my friend Megan's 40th birthday party.  Everywhere I went and everyone I saw wanted in on the tutu fun.  Megan confessed she always wore a tutu when she was young, and she never wanted to take it off.  Naturally she jumped at the chance to 'rock the tutu' and have a spontaneous photo shoot.  After Megan was done and all aglow from the tutu good vibes, Becca asked if she could join the fun.  You know I was more than happy to accommodate and we shot more good pictures.  I was pleased the tutus were able to transform these women into little girls and playful creatures.  Becca even went topless but I won't share these pictures on my blog as this is the internet after all.  Suffice it to say she looked gorgeous!  The tutu wasn't finished for the night until the other birthday girl Angie put one on and twirled about.  I had 3 women completely letting loose with their playful sides and the evening was a smash hit. 

The next day was all about tutus once again.  My friend Annie McKeckney and Patricia Taylor wanted in on the fun and we danced about Patricia's yard doing the cancan.  Afterwords Annie and I went to the beach but we left our tutus in the car, I mean they deserve a break once in a while, until we pulled them out for yet another photo opportunity.  There was this old rusty, adorable old truck at "campsncottages" just perfect for this crazy hip chick to throw on her tutu and snap away.....have tutu will travel is my motto now!  After I left Annie's house to go pick up my daughter Abby at her friend Maddy's house we commenced to have yet ANOTHER tutu photo shoot with all the MacInturf's.  It was a lot of fun and I even got Sarah to put one on, after much insistence.  Just before we left to drive home we all talked about the magic of the tutu and all it's possibilities.  My brain is on overdrive with creative endeavors (yipee) and this is only the tip of the iceberg!

Here is is Monday and my red tutu has been put on once again for a shot right outside the house.  Ben and I took Miss Daisy for a sunny drive to Mt. Diablo as she's finally up and running!! woo hoo!  Right next to Daisy is a hill filled with red wildflowers and since I happen to bring my tutu everywhere I go I was able to quickly grab a shot of this wonderful color.  Later we hung the tutu out of Daisy's window for a splash of color on Mt. Diablo.  Now I know I am in the thralls of tutu madness, and how long this last remains to be seen.  But don't be surprised if the next time you see me I have you dressed in a tutu, I am dying to get as many people as possible on board my tutu-train.  The tutu embraces our inner child, playful spirit and joyous zest for life.  Tutu's are visually beautiful, romantic, uplifting and artful.  Perhaps tutu's can connect the world, it sure has me fired up!! So hop up on the tutu train and ride, ride, ride.....................

The critic

Here's my latest painting, "Exuberance".  I'm happy with it for many reasons.
1. it has meaning to me 2. it's vibrant and different 3. it's working
But just as this was a success my other painting was not.  I started a cupcake painting

from this photo taken on my birthday at Claude's flea market with Sharon.  I loved the colors of the cupcakes on the old rusty paint cans and it started out looking like a good painting. Then it was frustrating me and like all crazy artists I let it really upset me to the point where I painted it all out.  Now that's ok actually, there's a lot of freedom in starting fresh.  But my biggest obstacle in art isn't making it, it's getting past my critic, ME.  Julia Cameron talks about the critic in her book (my bible) The Artist Way.  All artists (and most people) have a critic that tells us we aren't good enough.  I loved reading this because if I let my critic play she will rip my whole business to shreds.  Today I got so
upset I was close to tears.  Here I had done well with a painting and yet I was
punishing myself for what I didn't do.  I was mad that my cupcake painting didn't go as well, and I

then started questioning everything I was doing to the point where I thought I was a total failure.  It doens't even make sense and yet it felt so real.  It was my critic sreaming at me and it was nasty.  Why I'm sharing this is to acknowledge the gift of perservering.  I won't let my critic win, I will keep at it and I will move forward. 
Last year at this time I had just moved into my studio and I was overwhelmed at the talent around me.  The artists in the arsenal are all amazing, most of them are full time artists with shows in galleries, selling their work.  I felt
like I was in kindergarten and not even worthy of
being in the same playground.  But I didn't let it scare me off.  Now here it is almost a year later and I have a store and studio, I am trying to paint as much as possible to show for open studios.  It's been a big step and I'm already further than I would have believed possible last april.  So all this tells me is all I need to do is show up, do what I can and eventually it's going to keep leading me where I need to go.  If I think of a year from now I can't imagine where I'll be.  I want to be selling my art, making the store beautiful and making enough money to pay for it all and to be paid a 'salary' too.  It's a tall order I know but as a customer today told me "first you have to conceive it then you can achieve it."  I won't let my critic tell me my art isn't good enough to sell (it does), my shop is silly (it does this too) and I am just a wannabe (yep it even says this).  I will prove it wrong and keep perservering.  I mean what the heck else am I gonna do, quit?   No way.  I have quit so many jobs because they didn't challenge me (this always does), the boss sucks (I can't say she's always great but hey, I'm stuck with her) and the pay isn't worth it (I'm paid in many ways not always with $).  So I know I have found the right venue.  Tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start on a clean canvas.  I can hardly wait..............

Exuberance

This picture captures a wonderful moment.  I am going to paint it and call it "Exuberance".  Here's the funny part....why?  Because I like it.  Plain and simple.  Will it sell? Don't know.  Will it be liked?  Don't know.  Will anyone get it?  Don't know.  I don't know what people want when it comes to art, there is such a huge range of tastes.  Some people like modern, some like impressionism, some like realism, some like nature, some like geometric.  Who knows what it's all about when it comes down to it.  I keep it simple.  I paint what I like.  Just like I have a shop that I like.  Maybe someone else will like it too.  That's my business plan.  Not very glamorous, or very impressive but it works for me.  Will it work for the long haul remains to be seen.  But I don't want to over complicate things and get so bogged down with worrying about what's popular, or what sells that I loose track of the point.  What is the point you ask?  To create.  To create and put out my mark, my own expression of beauty, interest and joy.

This photo captures a joyous moment shared by my daughter and me last weekend.  We took off to our family cabin at Bass Lake just a mother daughter trip.  I am so grateful my 14 year old likes to go on these trips with me.  I have never been on a mother daughter trip with my own mother so it's sacred to me that Abby and I are so close.  On our way to the cabin we stopped at the thrift shops along the way (naturally) and this red tutu called our name.  I purchased the tutu and a sweet ole pitchfork for the studio and boy was I glad I did.  That night just as dawn was arriving we grabbed the camera and headed out for a photo shoot.  Tutu in hand we went to the beach and took amazing pictures.  The light was perfect and the tutu was a great prop.  The shot "exuberance" was our last picture of the joyous photo shoot and it captures the carefree essence that we felt perfectly.  I'm hopeful it will be a great painting.  This is how I get my art, from life, from single moments that can be frozen in time.  I love photography for the quick fix "mini painting' quality it offers.  Just 'click' and it's frozen, while painting the image is much more laborious.  That labor is a labor of love.  It's so exciting to put paint on a brush and watch it take shape on canvas.  It comes alive right before your very eyes.  I am not able to paint from my mind, I require an image and a scene to paint from.  I admire those who can freely paint from their imagination, it's a skill I don't possess at this juncture.  But perhaps it will develop in time, for now I'm content to snap images, take them to my studio and then transpose them onto canvas.  It's just so fun when it all comes together as I'm hoping it will on the red tutu.  If it does I shall post the finished piece.  If it's just something I love and it doesn't sell or interest anyone else I will put on my wall at home and smile.  It will always remind me of that magic day when we played merrily on the beach.  That is what art is for me.

Chez Panisse and gardens

Although the weather was frightful the day was splendid, thanks to Linda and Chez Panisse in Berkeley. This restaurant is THE place to go thanks to it's owner Alice Waters. Alice Waters, chef, author, and the proprietor of Chez Panisse, is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy that maintains that cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and locally. She is a passionate advocate for a food economy that is “good, clean, and fair.” Over the course of nearly forty years, Chez Panisse has helped create a community of scores of local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of fresh and pure ingredients. In 1996, Waters’s commitment to education led to the creation of The Edible Schoolyard at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Middle School: a one-acre garden, an adjacent kitchen-classroom, and an “eco-gastronomic” curriculum. By actively involving a thousand students in all aspects of the food cycle, The Edible Schoolyard is a model public education program that instills the knowledge and values we need to build a humane and sustainable future. The program is nationally recognized for its efforts to integrate gardening, cooking, and sharing school lunch into the core academic curriculum. Alice established the Chez Panisse Foundation in 1996 to support the Schoolyard and encourage similar programs that use food traditions to teach, nurture, and empower young people. The success of The Edible Schoolyard led to the School Lunch Initiative, whose national agenda integrates a nutritious daily lunch and gardening experience into the academic curriculum of all public schools in the United States.

So that gives you some background on the food of this restaurant, it's all organic, all fresh and all exquisite. I took pictures of everything (naturally) and the colors of the food were as striking as their flavors. I started with a beet and avocado salad that was a visual feast as well as flavorful one. I was engrossed in the remaining oil and beet combination seeing the plate as a real masterpiece. Shame they had to wash it off, it could've been 'framed'. My main course was the halibut with spinach, artichokes, meyer lemon, and chervil. Light, simple, delicate and perfect. The rhubarb tart with vanilla bean ice cream was the grand finale to be sure. The colors of this dish again dazzled me and they even gave me a candle with a "Happy Birthday" banner. I floated out of this haven, literally feeling a buzz from the good food and good times. Sadly Linda had to go back to work but we did stop off at her house to photograph her garden in all it's splendor. Linda is a master gardener, she takes care of the whole garden by herself and let me tell you this is a big garden. I had a field day taking pictures and I was tromping about in my white pants and beige boots in the puddles and rain. Too funny! A delightful day and one I won't soon forget. I must go back to Chez Panisse and for any of you who have yet to go I highly recommend it. Just don't forget to bring your camera. Thanks Linda for a fantastic lunch!

Pet Portraits

Here are my most recent pet portraits. I was commissioned by my friend Cathy DuPuis via facebook (I love my facebook) to paint her whole pet family. This was my first time painting cats, I thought it'd be super easy as cats are more angular but it was harder than I thought. My favorite one is the cocker spaniel painting. I like how it's loose and reminiscent of a paint by numbers. The pet portraits have been a great experience. What started out as a whim has really blossomed into a viable market. People love their pets and they are a part of our families so why not have a painting of them? I have yet to tackle people portraits. All in good time, for now I'll enjoy doing animals, they don't talk back, they are always happy and they have fun fur. Humans can't touch that.

Tuesday with Kae, Abby and Olivia

Today was a birthday play date for Kae and I and we happily included Abby and her friend Olivia to join the festivities. We went to Piedmont to explore and shop, two things we do very well, and I had never been to Piedmont so I was intrigued to explore this new town. Piedmont is near Berkeley, Rockridge and Oakland. It's an upscale town with a rich history and the downtown had plenty of cute shops. We started at a retro looking shop where I got the most sparkly, drop dead, gorgeous earrings that you've ever seen. Next, we went to our most favorite place, the thrift shop, this one is a "Discovery" thrift, proceeds helping the American Cancer Society. They had amazing merchandise and a fabulous white hat that tempted me, but it's price was too steep ($45). After the thrift we went to an antique shop that was PACKED with stuff everywhere, it was kind of creepy to be honest and we kept going up more and more flights of stairs to more and more piles of stuff. I marveled at how they sell anything, it was so dark, creepy and sad. Of course this made it an adventure and we love the unexpected like creepy antique shops... But happily we left to the beautiful flower shop and another blingy jewelry store with fun hats. I loved the blue one with flowers but again too pricey for me (this one was $105.00!) We left Piedmont and decided to travel to Rockridge, all of 5 miles or so and had lunch at Pasta Pomodoro. Kae had all the party supplies, a party "Queen" crown, party horns, sparklers and even a cupcake in her bag of tricks!! She's like the ultimate bag lady, you never know what she's packin'! Our waiter "DJ" was a hoot, he joined our frivilous mood and showered us with great service. After all this we shopped some more, after all there were a few more thrift shops and we had another hour before we had to head back. Armed with packages we came home and unloaded our treasures. Another over the top birthday celebration for the hip chick. It just amazes me how much goodness is around....