Balboa Park Getaway

casey and i had a chance to get away for a few days and spend some time in san diego where we stayed with my aunt and uncle.  we spent a fun day at balboa park strolling around through a variety of museums and gardens.  it was nourishing to our souls~

we saw everything from old airplanes

to beautiful gardens

to magical faierie houses

to exotic fashions

 

and textiles

 

 

it was just fun to walk through the architecture of another world

with people i love

who love me in return....

we brought georgie with us and my aunt and uncle have a little bichon, charlie and the 2 boys were peas in a pod

it's amazing what a couple of days can do to blow the worries away.  by the time i got home i forgot about my troubles of the last post and have just decided to let the universe run it's course.  i got my mojo back and am ready to paint~

The Rap About My BAD REP

the licensing world can be a jungle out there and one of my reps has turned out to be a shady character.  boy oh boy, this experience is pushing my growth process more than any assertiveness- training workshop ever could because she is my middle man for national and international companies with which i have contracts.
they're not all bad and untrustworthy like this one. i have 2 reps in the field and they are night and day. L is communicative, friendly, open, responsive, always timely with statements, checks and contracts, tells me to call her any time for any reason and is a true advocate for me. E is all things opposite and dealing with her is like walking on eggshells.  well, i finally broke the egg last week.  she owes me 2 checks from last quarters royalties which she has been dismissing and avoiding me on and when i sent her a friendly email telling her i found this to be discouraging she terminated our agreement.  great.  it was hard enough getting a response from her as a represented artist and i still have 2 years left on these contracts which means she'll owe me a total of 8 quarterly payments.  yikes, what a pickle i got myself into by trusting this woman, because in this world it all comes down to trust. on the other hand it feels liberating not to be tip toeing around her worrying about pissing her off in fear that she won't treat me fairly.  now i can feel free to directly state my position and expectations and assert my rights as a professional artist because she's clearly out of line.  this business aspect of being an artist is not the funnest part but i suppose it helps balance out our dreamy, right brain and helps us develop other aspects to our personalities. i'm just going with it, though it makes me shaky and nervous, i'm not just going to forget it and let it go like she thinks i will.  i'm sure she believes me to be incapable of standing my ground because by not asserting myself previously i was giving her permission to treat me badly.  not any more!
i think in the end L is going to do great things in the licensing world because we have a cooperative and balanced alliance and those are the only kind to make true success happen.  we are working together in a beautiful way wanting to help each other.  i will have a big display at the surtex trade show in NY this may.  i'm sending her some of my fabric so she can make pillows for the booth.  it's fun working with her and that's the  only way it should be.
here are a few of the images E licensed that will be phased out for now~

there are many more but all i have time to load this very busy monday morning.  thanks for allowing me to get this off my chest here~ staying in the love~

MAST show at Meisel Gallery

 Last night was the reception for the group show of the 12 artists who comprise the Santa Barbara Mesa Artists at the Meisel Gallery at the Santa Barbara rehab center.  Our group has an annual studio tour which always falls on my birthday weekend in November which has been beautiful, warm and clear as a bell every year.  This event has become increasingly popular and successful and is a fun, personal way to visit our home studios and get a glimpse of our creative spaces and see new work.  We all live up on the mesa here, a small village within Santa Barbara proper with it's own distinct flavor and a history of artists inhabiting this serene spot.  It's an interesting group of artists and this is our first group, gallery show~

Unfortunately the storm was so bad yesterday that I didn't venture out to the reception but these are the 5 pieces I have in the group show~

 

The show will run for 3 months and there is much to see- 60 pieces in all, a rich and varied cross section of artists who inhabit this special mini village on the bluffs in Santa Barbara. Hope some of you can make it in to see in person~

Best wishes for a lovely weekend~ 

My Hero Stew

stew was here for a 4 day visit this week en route to his 2nd 6 week surfing adventure to New Zealand with friends~

he's right up there with georgie in how good i feel to be in his presence~

they both carry calm joy in their auras~

 we had a good time together because we enjoy the same things- outdoor activities like long beach walks-

 finding magical wonders in nature~

we went to yoga classes and lots of swims at the pool, sunset walk and hikes in the mountains~

we came across a sacred site on top of a mountain and meditated together with ganesha and got deep into our shared inner space~

all my important lessons i've learned from my son stew.  he's taught me courage and grace in the face of overwhelming adversity, unconditional love, kindness, compassion and acceptance toward self and others, and the power of being in this moment in this body. he has a rare purity of being that is contagious~

 i was sad to have him leave but fulfilled by our visit and happy for his free spirit flying high above this mundane world off into the yonders of another land~

 
love him so much!

Birth of a Painting

this is my latest work- bluebirds of happiness.  i am asked all the time "how long did this take?" it's a difficult question to answer because it's taken a lifetime to get here but there was one magical moment in which the creative spark ignites each piece. i decided to document the process to we can see how this works~

first is the matter of finding the right subject matter- it's crucial to have something inspirational and design appropriate.  these flowers are from the local farmers market- we have the best in the world, year round bounty.

 

 google searching for just the right winged creatures that seem to fit~

cutting my paper to just the right size and sitting for awhile- centering, contemplating, feeling, entering into this fantasy i am going to channel, this world i will be inhabiting for the next several days~

next is a contour pencil drawing- the bones of the piece and hard to see here because i use a very hard pencil and it's light. i take my time paying close attantion to all the details. this first session has been 3 hours~

now for the fun part- get the yummy colors laid out~

and begin with the flowers painting alternate petals~

round and round til there all complete.  this session: 5 hours~

next is greenery and stamens. didn't mother nature know what she was doing when she made green the lush backdrop for all this color?  this part is always so satisfying. this session about 3 hours. here are some close-ups~

i love the color on the purity of the white but i want a more fanciful quality than this botanical look and i know i will have to decide upon a background color, but first the focal point, my lovely bluebirds of happiness,  all the more so since they are a mated pair~

 

i had to set that stem up just right so they'd have a viable place to perch and be in harmony~

background color- a geeny gold with lots of blends.  a mix of 3 blues and 3 yellows. this session about 3 hours~

signature- i picked blue to match the birds~

the paper is a bit buckley so i wet it down with the toned water from painting and sandwich it between sheets of paper ~

and weight it down with books to dry overnight~

bring it in to my guy at samy's to take a high res digital file and voila, my painting is complete.  well, almost.  i still need to select a frame, order it and put it together, but that is a whole post in itself.  see what i mean about the time question.  i still don't have the true answer,  and ultimately it doesn't matter to ths right- brained person. it's seamless, like life~